The Rocker, Lover, and Hammer
by Heartless-Nobody-24
Summary: What do you get when 3 new demigods come to Camp Half-Blood? A whole lot of trouble, new love, and head smacking. Percy and Annabeth must find the truth behind this trio's sudden appearance before their secret destroys them all.
1. New Arrivals

I don't own Percy Jackson, or any other references made or thought have been made.

* * *

_It was a fine summer day at Camp Half-Blood. New demigods were coming in regularly and the camp reconstruction was finally finished. Percy and Annabeth were still…uncertain of their feelings, along with everyone else. Thalia had returned from the Hunt for the summer, Luke had been reincarnated as a teenager, and Nico was back. Everything seemed fine, until __**t**__**hey**__ arrived._

Chiron and Mr. D were playing cards in the Big House. Percy and his friends were all skiing at the beach, with Percy pushing the water to make them move without a boat. Jace (**child of Nemesis, idea borrowed from a "**_**leprechaunsarekronos'sservants"**_** story**) was battling with Nico in the Training Arena. And everyone else was doing their own things.

Nobody seemed to notice three boys walk over the hill towards camp, but one. They walked right past Peleus, the dragon watching the Golden Fleece, and straight into camp. The camper saw one with a giant sledgehammer, one with an electric guitar, and one with a large Bible. Then the single son of Dionysus, who had been walking towards the Dining Pavilion, saw them walk onto the camp straight for the Big House. Luckily the camper was closer and got their first, breaking down the door.


	2. What To Do?

I don't own Percy Jackson, or any other references made or thought have been made.

* * *

Chiron had just beat Mr. D at another hand and was shuffling for the next, when suddenly the door was busted inward. Chiron was on all four horse legs with arrow already notched in his bow. Mr. D paid no attention except by rearranging the cards to get a better hand. Suddenly the young camper stands up with a shocked Chiron help dust him off. Calming him down, Chiron was able to get information of three intruders in camp. Immediately he sent the young camper to get Percy and the others to come for fear of attack.

The boy found Percy at the beach, after seeing the three invaders standing in the middle of the camp ground looking around completely confused by their surroundings. He told Percy of the three; and Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia ran for the Big House. Juniper, who was with them, went for Nico and the other camp counselors.

On their way, Percy's group saw the three by the strawberry fields, still looking confused. Upon reaching the Big House, they found Chiron watching him through window shades.

Percy, "Chiron! What's going on!? Who are they?"

Chiron, "I don't know who they are."

"Could they be demigods, how else could they have entered camp?" Annabeth suggested.

Thalia, "They could be assassins?"

Chiron, "I do not think they were sent here to kill anyone."

"How can you tell?" Percy asked.

Annabeth, "Because if they were, they wouldn't look like they have no idea where they are or what this place is."

Chiron, "Exactly. But they still should not be able to enter without permission by a camper or god."

By this time, Nico, Jace, Silena, Beckendorf, and a couple other campers had rallied to the Big House to figure out what was going on.

"People please! We don't know who they are or if they are threats." Chiron announced.

"We should go out their and grab them." Thalia suggested.

"We should go out and negotiate with them." Annabeth suggested.

"STOP!!!!!" Percy screamed, "We are not going to attack, negotiate, or whatever. I am going to go out their and ask them who they are. Kay?"

Clarisse scoffed, "When happens when they kill you then."

"Invincible. Remember?" Percy replied with a grin, wiping off Clarisse's smug look.

"Well I'm going out there with you Seaweed Brain." Annabeth stepped up to his side lightly rubbing his arm, making Percy a little bit red.

"Well then, let's go meet our new campers." Percy announced.

"Remember! Hammers can still hurt if hit." Beckendorf reminded, seeing the sledgehammer, seemingly trying to calculate something in his head.

At that, Percy and Annabeth walked out the Big House door towards their new visitors.


	3. How You Doing?

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other references made or thought to be made.

* * *

Percy and Annabeth walked up to the strange trio. It was a really tan boy with brown-blonde hair. He was wearing a dark brown, tight fit, leather jacket, a long red shirt with flames on the front, dark blue jeans with black skater shoes, and a guitar on his back. He was looking over at the amphitheater to our left. The next guy had white khakis, a white t-shirt, a long sleeved, button-up, white with grey stripes shirt with the sleeves rolled up, he had glasses on, and black Adidas with white stripes on them, and he had a Bible under on arm. He had dark brown, wavy hair, pale skin, and a lot of freckles. He was looking at the dozens of cabins to our right. And the third was a big built, tall black guy with short cut black hair. He had a sleeveless dark blue shirt, light brown pants, and black boots. He didn't look very threatening, but with a giant hammer over his shoulder he could make an invincible man shake. And Percy was as we walked up to them.

"Hi! Who are you?" said Annabeth in her totally calm voice. All three looked right at her.

"Hello, I'm Matthew Lueck." Said the one with the Bible, "These are my pals; the one with the hammer is Steven Albrect and the one with the guitar is Jacob Nespoli."

Jacob walked up to Annabeth in a swooning kind of way, "How you doing?" He said like Joey from _Friends_.

Annabeth blushed before slapping him and walking over to Percy who stood in front of her in a defensive pose.

"A little fight in ya. I like that." Jacob said back with a smile before the one called Steven smacked him in the head with his huge hand.

"Jacob!" Matthew yelled at him, "Can't you see it between them?"

"He can't see anything except what he wants for himself." Steven said in a voice softer than one would think a big dude would have.

"Well that's a son of Apollo for you." Matthew said walking over to him. "Are you so dull that you can't see it between them?" Pointing at Percy and Annabeth. Both of whom turned red at the thought of what they meant as they shied away from each other.

"From their reactions," Jacob began, "are you sure you see it right? They ain't acting like it."

"Well I agree it is a little strange and distorted with these two, but it's there all the same!"

"So that means I have a chance?"

"Don't you remember what happened in New Orleans?"

"Oh yeah, tall, brunette, and blue eyes. Gorgeous!"

"Oh, I was remembering her as had-a-boyfriend, furious, and kicked you in the nuts after slapping you."

"But that slap didn't distract me from my love for her."

"How about her boyfriend's punch to the gut and his kick to your nuts."

"That hurt."

"Why can't you just leave the people, who I say have it, alone!"

"Gods you are acting just like your father!" Jacob answered angrily.

"Thank you. I take that as a compliment."

"It's not meant to be!"

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!!!!" Screamed Steven, "Have you noticed the two people staring at us like we're insane?"

Looking back at Percy and Annabeth, who both had faces of complete confusion.

"Oh right sorry." Matthew apologized, "Right, um where are we?" he asked out of the blue.

"Um, Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth replied in a somewhat scared voice.

"Oh. Well I guess we followed his directions correctly." Jacob pointed out to the others.

"Well we did come across a few… problems." Matthew reminded.

Steven cleared his throat.

"Sorry, forgot them again. Sorry it's the ADHD thing. Anyway, 'Take us to your leader'." Matthew did in a somewhat Sean Connery accented voice.

"Um yeah, Chiron is this way." Percy led them towards the Big House. The three stared at it in awe, like they had never seen it in the first place.

"The centaur? He really does still teach. I thought he retired." Steven said from the back.


	4. Introductions

I don't own Percy Jackson, or any other references made or thought to be made.

* * *

Percy POV:

_What in the name of the gods is wrong with these guys? I hope Chiron can help them._

Walking into the Big House, all the campers were evenly spread out. Some of them looked ready to attack, others in awe, and others talking in groups. The three were looking around, but I noticed that none of them made eye contact with a single camper. Their gaze seemed to go around their faces.

"Welcome to Camp Half-Blood." Chiron welcomed walking over to them on his horse legs. He held out his hand and they shook it one at a time.

"Nice place you got here." Steven complimented.

"You're a son of Hephaestus aren't you?" Bekendorf asked him stepping forward. I could see the resemblance. Not just the fact that they were both black and extremely tall; they both had the strong built bodies that no one could ever get and their eyes looked like they were made of the fire of the forges that they worked at.

"Yes I am brother." Steven replied. He still didn't make eye contact.

"And I am a son of Apollo." Jacob piped up, still staring at Annabeth. I kicked the back of his leg and cleared my throat. He got the message and looked away, but then began looking around at the other girls.

_Who the hell does this guy think he is? Hitting on Annabeth. I'll punch him the next time he tries to make a move. But wait, I'm not exactly Annabeth's boyfriend; so I can't really do anything. I'll worry about that later, Chiron's talking._

"… and we have the Cabins for each god, the beach, the forest that we have filled with monsters, and our pegasus stables." Chiron pointed out on the map of the camp on the wall.

"Wait!" Matthew exclaimed suddenly, "You have Pegasus here?" He seemed terrified at the mention of the word. But the other two also looked a bit scared at the mentioning of it.

"No, no, no. We could not possibly hold THE Pegasus, but we do have pegasi." Chiron explained, calming them down. But they still looked nervous at the thought of pegasi. _Wonder why?_ I looked at Annabeth and saw her confused face staring at them, obvious that she was thinking the same thing. We are like that so much. Whenever I think of something, she seems to be thinking of the same thing.

I turned back to the meeting only to have Matthew looking from me to Annabeth and then back. He had a creepy kind of smile on his face.

"Matthew is it?" Chiron asked walking towards him.

"Yes it is." Matthew said without missing a single second of hesitation.

"Well, actually I have two questions."

"Yes?" Matt waited there politely. He never moved, he stood with his feet together, hands behind his back, and looking at who he was talking to straight in the eye. And as far as I could see, it looked like he didn't blink at all.

"You never told us who your godly parent was." Chiron asked just as politely.

"No I didn't, did I? Well how rude of me." He began to sound a little sadistic at that last sentence. "I am the son of Eros. The god of love."

"I thought Aphrodite was the goddess of love?" I asked.

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth walked up to me, but not before I saw Matt's eyes flicker at me while Annabeth approached. "Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure. Eros is the god of pure love. Eros is her son."

"Oh yeah. I forgot." I lied. She rolled her eyes, knowing that I was lying too.

"Chiron did you have a second question?"

"Hmmm...Oh…Yes I did." Chiron muttered, losing track of his place. "Is it a problem that we have pegasi stables?"

They all looked a little uncomfortable at that question.

Jacob answered first, "It's not that we have a problem with them…"

"It's that they have a problem with us." Steven told.

"We had a less than…subtle meeting when we met Pegasus on our travels." Matthew finished.

"You actually met Pegasus!? THE Pegasus!?" Silena piped up from the back.

"Yes we did. Maybe I can tell you about it sometime." Jacob said walking towards her in his walk. But Steven pulled him back as Beckendorf stood in front of Silena, just like I had done for Annabeth.

Then Matthew walked up to him and smacked him across the back of his head, "They have it too." He whispered to Jacob.

"Does everyone at this stupid camp have it?" Jacob asked annoyed.

"Nearly." Matt said back to him, "Now Chiron is there a way we can…"

"What is going on in here. Chiron are you coming back to play cards or what?" I could tell it was Mr. D coming in.

Just as the door to the den where they played cards opened, revealing Mr. D in his strange outfit, Matthew, Steven, and Jacob ran out of the room before anyone could say anything.

"Did someone just run out of here?" Mr. D asked puzzled, staring at the door.

"Yes." Chiron replied just as puzzled, "New campers."

"Great! More of these little brats." Mr. D said walking away.

"Well they actually aren't that little." I replied.

"Whatever Perry." Mr. D called, walking back into the den.

"Chiron?" Annabeth asked, only to get a still confused look, "Any idea why they ran?"

"Maybe they didn't want to be seen by Dionysus?"

"Now why would three new campers be afraid to meet the one god that resides on Earth I wonder?" Clarisse said aloud while walking forward. "Maybe they're hiding something that they know a god could figure out?"

"Now let us not begin to make accusations." Chiron replied. "All of you back to your activities! Percy, Annabeth…" He called us over to him and whispered to us, "…could you watch over those three? I have an odd feeling about them."

"So do we." We said simultaneously, and then we ran out to go find them.


	5. Training

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any other references made or thought to be made.

* * *

Annabeth's POV

_What the hell was that guy's problem?_ I thought, _That Jacob is an asshole. Thank God Percy was there, I glad he was there to help me out. God I wish he would make a move or something. My mother would fry me alive if I made a move on Percy, and besides, the guy is supposed to make the first move. But I don't exactly know how I feel about him, but I'm sure if he made a move would figure it out. And what was up with that Matthew kid staring at me and Percy saying we "have it"?_

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

"What?...Sorry." I replied, very daughter-of-Athena-like. Then I realized that he had been saying my name for a while.

"There they are." He said pointing towards the training ground.

Then I saw the craziest fighting that I ever saw. They were standing in a triangle formation, but all around them were dummies, but they were on the ground and on stands to make them higher up. All three were still in their clothes, they hadn't changed to train. Steven was holding his hammer like a baseball bat, like it was completely weightless; Jacob had his guitar ready to play, but the flames on his electric guitar seemed to be actually moving. _Is that his weapon? Wonder how it works._ And Matthew had a pair of tonfa blades, **(look them up if you need to) **the blades running along outer part of his arm, the smaller tip was about 5 inches off of the handle and the longer part was about 2 feet long. His Bible was nowhere to be seen.

Just outside of the training area were a couple of campers. All the guys were talking about how cool their weapons were, and the girls were staring at their faces.

"That Steven has a body for sin." A blonde daughter of Apollo said, while she was literally drooling.

"That Matthew has the most handsome face in the world, not a single thing is wrong with it." Said a girl from the Hecate Cabin.

"And that Jacob has the cutest ass in the world." One Hermes girl said.

"Oh just shut up all of you!" I yelled at them.

Three began circling around each other. And then the mayhem began.

Matthew jumped towards Jacob with his blades in an X-shape. Just before he got hit, Jacob ducked out of the way and Matthew cut the dummy behind him into four pieces. As soon as Jacob got his footing, he shot his hand forward across the strings and a wave of light shot from the path of his pick. Jacob had been aiming for Steven, but he stuck the hammer straight into the ground and cut the wave in half with his hammer's handle. The wave cut up three dummies behind Steven. Matthew jumped again at them both with his blades crossing each other making a large kill zone. Jacob dodged by sliding backwards and Steven stopped the blade with the hammer. Matthew spun in an arc around the handle, cutting a couple dummies along the way. Then Matthew began moving faster than anything I've ever seen. He was spinning the blades in circles with his hand, and he suddenly shot his arm at Steven, towards his face, his chest, and his legs. But he either missed or was blocked; each time he missed he hit another dummy. Steven blocked each one of the attacks with his hammer at the same speed, and he swung the hammer like a sword. He swung it sideways and up and down, and destroyed anything that it touched.

That's when I noticed it. Every time they swung to attack, they seemingly missed their target. But they weren't targeting each other they were going for the dummies, purposely making moves that can be blocked or dodged so that they can take the dummies out.

Suddenly Percy grabbed me around the waste and pulled me away and we fell to the ground. The dummy which I had just been leaning against was just diced into a thousand pieces. He fell flat on his back and I fell right on top of him. "Damn it! That Matthew didn't even notice that you were standing there!" Percy yelled. Then I looked up and was staring straight into Percy's eyes. He was staring at mine. _God those eyes are beautiful. I feel like I'm staring right on the ocean and I can feel it surrounding me._ I suddenly felt a chill go through my body. I began leaning my head towards Percy's. When I was an inch away from his face, one of the Apollo girls giggled and I realized that everyone was staring at us. I shot onto my feet, my facing burning red. I helped Percy up, his face just as red.

I looked and saw Matthew jumping out of the way of a sonic blast from Jacob's guitar, which destroyed a couple dummies. Then Steven began swinging at Jacob, who dodged each one by sliding around on his feet and bending his body around each attack, like doing the splits or bending backwards. Then I saw Matthew staring at me while he was running towards the other two. He had that look again in his eyes.

"I think Matthew meant to do that." I said to myself. _What was that feeling? I felt like something was pulling me towards Percy. Could it have been Matthew?_

When they were done, all the dummies had been destroyed and they were standing in their triangle formation again. None of them had been touched by another; none of them were even sweating. They were still in battle stances. Everyone was waiting for them to make another move. They suddenly stood normally and walked towards each other and high fived.

"But the fights not over." Percy said confused. "None of them have been hit, and none of them have surrendered."

"That wasn't the point." Steven said as he walked towards us, his hammer resting on his shoulder.

"We were going for the dummies, not each other." Matthew said walking towards us as well; he was holding his tonfa with the longer blade along his arm. Jacob had walked off towards the girls.

"Why were you trying to attack each other than?" Percy asked.

"I'll be right back." Matthew said walking towards Jacob.

"We were only pretending to aim at each other so that we could take out our real opponent." Steven said. He had such a soft voice for a huge buff dude. "We are capable of reading each others moves so that we can use them to attack whatever is around us. We had to do this one time that we were surrounded by a swarm of hellhounds. We began attacking each other and they didn't understand, so they didn't attack. It wasn't as good as that one we just did; we did hurt each other a bit. And while we were attacking each other, we took out the hellhounds one at a time while pretending that we missed. And they actually bought it, and so we practice it."

Suddenly we heard yelling. We looked around and saw Matthew and Jacob yelling at each other.

"I better go sort them out." Steven said walking over to them.

"So, what should we do?" I asked Percy. We were supposed to be watching them and it didn't sound fun just to follow them around.

"I think we should talk to them and try and figure out their past. Cause it seems like they had a pretty wild and harsh one.

"Right, so who should we talk to first?"

"Maybe Jacob, just to get it over with."

I didn't exactly like the idea of talking to Jacob, but I would do it. "Alright let's go get him."

We both turned to go get Jacob, but all three of them were gone. We looked around and saw them all running in separate directions.

"Let's split up and go get them." Percy suggested.

"Good idea."

"Annabeth…" Percy said grabbing my arm lightly. "… I…um" He didn't seem capable of saying something, but was trying hard to do it.

"What is it?" I asked. _What's wrong with him?_

"I… just be careful alright?" And without waiting for a response he ran off, grumbling something to himself.

"Okay-y?" I said. What was that. And I ran off towards the Wall Climb.


	6. Searching

I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

I started running for the Dining Pavilion, I think I saw Jacob go this way and I'd prefer if he didn't talk to Annabeth.

_Why the hell couldn't I have just said it before? She was right there, we were alone, and we just had that…accident._

Percy didn't realize that he had stopped running and began walking.

_Why do I keep denying it to myself? I know what's happening; she knows what's happening! Why can't either of us just accept it? Time and time again, I try to tell her, and I bet she's tried to tell me, but neither of us can get it out. It's like we have a secret that we want to share with each other, but we can't because it is a __**secret**__! Dear gods, we are juniors in high school, we defeated Cronos, the leader of the Titans, but we can't accept that we have feelings for each other? I wonder if other people have this problem? Probably. Maybe its Aphrodite's fault, she wanted to make this whole thing difficult. Maybe its Athena, she hates me already. What if it's my dad? Nah, he likes Annabeth._

"GODS!!!! WHY!!!" I just yelled into the sky, not caring if anyone heard. "Why can't we just admit that we…" I couldn't finish that sentence; the word wouldn't come out of my mouth. "Maybe that's our problem, or at least mine? Maybe I'm afraid to accept these feelings? Because I don't think I'm good for her? No, we're perfect for each other. Because I'm afraid she won't accept it?" Suddenly, I had a revelation (and I don't get many of them). "I'm afraid she won't accept, so I won't tell her because I'm afraid I'll lose her and I'd rather have her as a friend than not at all."

_That's kind of a poor excuse, even for me. But it's the truth._

Matthew POV

I was hiding by the trees near Percy; my Bible was being difficult, it didn't move too well between the close trees, but I would never leave it. I heard his screams, but what I heard in his heart was what was really interesting. That was the cool part of being a child Eros, you are able to read a person's heart, all their feelings and love-related conflicts. And what I can see from this guy, he's either losing all of his love for her? (Not likely) Or thinking he's not good for her? (Probably)

"Damn, this son of Poseidon is not making my job any easier." I moaned quiet enough that he wouldn't hear. My head was creasing from the headache I was getting from this guy and Annabeth. "These two are gonna need some extreme measures." I ran off towards the Cabins, Annabeth may find Steven before me. He'll tell her all of our secrets if she finds him, he's too trusting. If he tells her too much, we're screwed. The gods will find us and kill all three of us.

Percy POV

I was sitting on a bench near the Forest, I saw Annabeth run this way, but she must have turned somewhere else.

"I really gotta talk to her." The wind was picking up; it was blowing my dark hair into my eyes. "Why don't I just get this cut off?"

As I sat there, I was able to see a large part of the Camp. I saw the Cabins to my left, and the new ones for the other gods. I saw the path leading to the beach, the Rock Wall, the Big House, and the Amphitheater. A lot of the campers were outside today, and all of them were talking. No, more than that. Everyone was standing in pairs. Every single guy was with a girl. I saw Clarisse walk by with Nick **(I think that's his name)**, but she was being really lovey-dovey to him, which Clarisse NEVER did in public. He was holder her firmly in his embrace. Coming from the beach, I saw Luke and Thalia holding hands. _How can she? She's a lieutenant of Artemis, she can't be able to have relations with boys!_ But she was having something with Luke, the kissing they were doing was a pretty clear sign. They weren't the only ones. Every person, from every Cabin, was either snuggling with someone or making out. And they looked like actual shows of affection, not the fake crap high schoolers have when they're with someone just because they are hot.

"Matthew!" I realized. That son of Eros was causing all of the campers to fall in love. Was he doing it purposefully, or did this stuff just happen when he went places? _Probably the first one._

Well great! Everyone is finding love except the one guy actually **trying** to get it.

Then I looked up to see the trees blowing in the wind, but there was something off. There were colors in the air.

"What the?" There was a breeze moving all the leaves in the trees, but there was something in it. There were streams of colors blowing in the wind. Not like ribbons or smoke, but like a mixture of the two. It was like a moving beam of colored light. There were tons of them in the air, all different lengths and colors: blue, green, purple… But then I heard it, a very soft music, like a cello playing orchestra music.

I couldn't help myself, I began following the music. It was easy to find, the rays of light must have been coming from the source of the music. As I got closer, I heard more music. It was getting more intense, kinda familiar from a movie, but as the music intensed so did the colors. The light blue and purple were replaced by bright oranges and yellows.

I finally found an opening in the Forest, it was near Zeus's Fist (fun memories here). I saw a kid playing a cello while sitting on a rock. It was Jacob! He was playing the music with his eyes closed and with no sheet music. The cello seemed to be glowing while he played it. He was playing August's Rhapsody from August Rush (**A/N: If you've never heard it, look it up on youtube)**. Every time he pulled the bow across the strings, a beam of colored light came off of it. _He's turning the music into light. Making sound visible._ But that was impossible! But he was doing it. His music was incredible, it didn't sound just like a cello, I heard trumpets and violins and drums. Jacob was the only one playing, but his music was played as an entire orchestra.

I stood there for who knows how long, just listening to the music. Eventually it stopped and Jacob looked up to see me, but he wasn't surprised that I was there.

"Hello Percy." He said it in a quiet and kinda sad tone.

"Jacob? What's wrong?" I asked him walking to sit beside him. I noticed that the cello had flame designs on it. _Weird to have on a cello._ Just like his guitar.

"The cello is my guitar." Jacob said after seeing me eye the cello with confusion plainly on my face.

"How?"

"The guitar was a gift from my father, Apollo the god of music. It has powers, which you saw while I was fighting the others, and it can become any instrument in existence. And when I hold the instrument, I immediately know how to play it and play every song played on it. If I were to listen to a song, I would automatically be able to play it."

"Quite a gift!" _Wish I could do that, but being able to breathe underwater is way cooler._

"But there is a drawback to being a child of Apollo." He noted with even more sorrow in his words, even pain. "Because our father is a…womanizer, best way to put it, so are his children, but a little differently. Whenever one of us sees someone of the opposite sex, we get this urge to go after them, we feel this addiction to them. It may seem like we're just trying to pick up chicks, but the pain it causes, emotionally. You can't possibly imagine what its like, the urge to try and fall for everyone. I see in the eyes of all my brothers and sisters, the same pain and tiredness. That's why I seek seclusion and privacy, when I'm near no one, I don't get the feeling and wounds can heal."

I had never really talked to a child of Apollo, but everything he said seemed to be true. I never imagined that they would be in pain because of their actions, they always seem happy when they do it that everybody thinks that they're okay with it.

"So," I had a thought, "Does that mean, when you went for Annabeth…"

"It was the urge, I have no real feelings for any of these girls. Annabeth is all yours, but you may want to act before someone does make a serious move." He gave me a look like I was an idiot for not doing it yet.

"Yeah I know, I was just thinking that to myself." I didn't feel like lying to someone who had just revealed the biggest secret of the Apollo children. "Hey, did you ever tell Steven or Matthew that?"

"Them? They've known ever since we were kids; that's why they always hit me, they try to prevent me from going to far."

"Wait," Catching something, "Ever since you were kids? You've known each other for that long?"

"Of course!" Jacob said matter-of-factly, "Being brothers kinda implies being together. Duh"

"BROTHERS!?!?"


	7. Our History

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other references made or thought to be made.

* * *

Annabeth's POV

"BROTHERS!" Annabeth screamed at Steven sitting at the top of the Wall Climb.

"Of course," he replied simply, "couldn't you tell?"

"NO!" Annabeth yelled back like he had asked the stupidest question ever. "I mean, your black, Jacobs tan and blonde, and Matt is pale and brown hair. How are you guys brother?"

Steven just shook his head, "I thought you were a child of Athena…"

"AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!" To a child of Athena, that was a deadly insult, referencing to us as if we were stupid.

"Think about what you just said and who we are." He said sympathetically, "The answer will come to you."

So I sat there, 50 ft. above the ground on a rock wall with lava falling down it. After I ran from the Training Area, I ran here to try and find one of the mysterious trio. Luckily I found Steven, but he was already at the top, so I had to climb up to get to him, and that took 20 min. From all the way up here, I could see most of Camp. I saw how all the campers were being lovey-dovey, even Clarisse, but it was a real love between all the people. I saw Nico and Jace making out by the Hades Cabin, Katie (Demeter's daughter) and Conner Stoll cuddling by the beach, and Silena and Beckendorf sneak out to the Aphrodite Cabin and lock the door (I think you can guess why). I immediately knew it had been the work of Matthew, that son of Eros.

_SONS! Sons of different MALE gods! That's how they can be brothers._ I looked at Steven who was looking at me waiting for the answer to come to me. "You are all brothers because you were born from different male gods to the same mother." A small smile played across his face as he nodded. "The physical features of Jacob are common to those of other Apollo children. I don't know how Eros looks so I can't really judge. But then you…is Hephaestus…"

"Black?" Steven finished. And after I nodded, he said, "Yes he is. You just can't really notice it with all the grime and oil stains."

_How am I gonna get this guy to tell me anything? Maybe he'll just tell me if I ask? He seems like a trusting guy._ "Hey Steven?"

"Yes?" he answered, he just keeps looking out at the sunset.

"You once told me that you guys had faced a giant group of hellhounds once."

"Yeah." He just kept looking at the sunset.

"Would you mind telling me what else you and your brothers faced?"

"Annabeth, why don't you just ask, 'Can you tell me your life story because I want to know?' because I know that that's what you want to know."

_Dang he's good._ "Then yes, can you tell me your life story?"

He just looked down at his lap, he grabbed his giant hammer that was laying at his side and looked at it. "It's not a pretty story."

"Tell me anyway." I could see some real pain in his eyes, and I felt horrible for asking him to tell me, but I had to know.

"Matthew probably wouldn't want me to tell you." He said while looking out at the forest area closest to us. He seemed to be focusing on something that I couldn't see.

Matthew's POV

"Damn!" I cursed at myself while hiding in the trees near the Wall Climb. "How does he always know where I'm hiding?" I had run from Percy in the woods to find Steven, but I was too late. Annabeth had found him._ And knowing Steven, he'll tell her everything. I need to get everything ready, the deal isn't over yet. It's almost time and I still need to see…her._ I ran off to the Cabins.

Steven's POV

"Matthew wouldn't want you to tell me? Why not? And why does it even matter?" She asked. _If only she knew what my brothers and I had been through, but now she'll know._

"Well first," I began, "Matthew is the oldest of the three of us, so he is kind of, like, the leader I guess. And second, there are certain things in our past that are dangerous to tell others."

"Well then," she said, "why don't you start from the beginning and just skip those things that Matthew wouldn't want you to tell?"

"Alright…" And I began our story

**A/N: The rest of this chapter will have no quotation marks, this is because it will all be said from Steven. Also the grammar may be a little weird, but just try to understand it.**

Our mother was Melissa Helzig, she lived in the state of Washington. It was there that the Eros found her and had Matthew, our oldest brother. After he was born, Eros returned to our mother and told her about the gods and demigods and there powers. Eros is the god of love so he loved our mother and Matt more than any being in the universe can ever possibly comprehend. But Eros also warned her about monsters and how they can sniff out demigods, and so she went into hiding in Seattle, hoping all the people would throw off his scent.

Two years after Matthew was born, Hephaestus heard about my mother's beauty from Eros and went to see her. He then became captivated by her beauty and sired me. My mother was a little concerned. She feared that all the gods would go to her, and she didn't want a ton of kids, but she mostly feared that two demigods would put us in more danger of being attacked. My father, moved by sympathy built her a device that would keep the monsters from finding her. This proved that even though she had had a child from another god, that he still loved her and me as well.

Two years after me, Apollo sensed the device and decided to look into it, thinking it might be a dangerous monster that needed to be killed. But then he found my mother, and you can guess what happened. With three children and no father to help with expenses, she pleaded with Apollo to help her, and because he loved her and Jacob, he gave her golden trinkets that made her rich. But our mother was smart, she used it sparingly, only to get what was neccassary so as not to draw attention.

When Matt was 16, I was 14, and Jacob was 12, something horrifying happened. We were all returning from school and arrived at our house in the woods, but it was destroyed. Walls were torn away from the building and it looked as if a bomb had gone off, but without the flame. By then, all three of us knew who and what we were and were beginning to control our powers. We had faced a few monsters like a dracaena or hell hounds, but otherwise we tried to avoid them, Hephaestus's machine had been working. Even satyrs couldn't pick us out of our school. Matthew seemed to be the smartest of our group. He could somehow sense when something from _our_ world was approaching. He was only 16 but he acted as if 24 or something and was smarter than most people. But that one day, we came home, we ran in to find our mother. We did, but sometimes I wish we hadn't. The images are still so clear to me though they are from so long ago. Our mother had been…butchered by _something_. It looked as if Freddy Krueger and Jack the Ripper both went at her at the same time. Matthew immediately knew that it was something more than a simple monster, it had been something stronger.

After we buried her ourselves in a cemetery, we flew to New York. Our godly fathers had visited multiple times, against Zeus's will, to help us. We never knew why they cared for us so much, but there was something to it. We went to Manhattan and went into the Empire State Building. We kind of…beat the access card out of the security guard. That's why they now have disguised monsters their to guard it, that one security guard is actually a giant. After we got to Olympus, we stormed into the Main Throne Room. Needless to say the gods began screaming, but we were about as loud as them at that point and were screaming back. After about an hour of screaming between both sides, we all settled down. Athena calmed down the gods and Matt calmed us, even though he had done most of the screaming.

Matthew was our main spokesperson, and because he was there, Eros came to the Throne Room. Matthew demanded that the gods tell him who had butchered our mother. Zeus was furious that we _demanded_ anything from them. Zeus continually said that it had been a monster, but Matthew knew more than that. He told the gods that it had been something older and even more powerful than the gods that had done it. The gods gave up, Zeus admitted that he knew that it was not a monster, but that they did not know what it had been. Zeus gave his word that he would find out what had killed our mother. But Matthew, being a child of "love" demanded that more be done than that for the butchering of our beloved mother. Zeus said that he couldn't do much more if it was more powerful than the gods.

But Athena had caught how Matt had said "our" mother. It appeared that our fathers had not revealed that they all had had children with the same woman. Zeus and Hera were livid and nearly blew the roof off the room. Hera was disgusted by the fact that we were technically cousins and brothers by being born by the same woman but from three brothers. She saw it as a destroying of "the family" and she demanded justice. But Zeus saw it as a dirtying of the blood line of the gods; that my brothers and I were "impurities" in the family. He decided that we were to be eradicated for just existing.

But our fathers, Apollo, Eros, and Hephaestus, stepped in and said that Zeus couldn't kill us. Zeus became angry at them. So Zeus decreed that our lives would be spared this time, but, should we ever be seen by any god or goddess, that we are to be destroyed on the spot. That's why we ran like hell when Dionysus came into that room. Our fathers requested that they be allowed to at least give us parting gifts. So I got my hammer along with strength to be able to use it, any other who tried to use it would burn their hand off. Apollo gave Jacob the guitar that could change into any instrument and allowed him to channel his power of music into a weapon. Eros gave the Bible to Matthew and told only him the secret to its power. Matt didn't even tell us what it was; all we know is that it can turn into Matt's tonfa blades. We were then sent on our way.

We took a plane back to Seattle to see our mother, and on the way Matt told us that we needed new last names so the gods wouldn't find us as easily. So we took names from the people sitting around us. But then Zeus threw us a curveball, he stole us off the plane and threw us to different parts of the US. I landed in New Orleans, Louisiana; Jacob landed in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania; Matt landed in Phoenix, Arizona. After Hurricane Katrina, I stayed to help with reconstruction. My hammer could literally make a house build itself, so I could only do it once. The other two didn't really tell me what happened to them, but when we lived back in Seattle we had once made a plan. We agreed that should we ever be broken up, that we would all meet at the St. Louis Arch. Well, we were all young kids, so it took us a while to meet up. It took me three years to get through everything, which means monsters, police, and traveling by foot. Finally I got to the Arch. There was a giant hole in it though, someone said that an explosion caused it and a boy flew out of it and crashed into the river and was never found. Well anyway, I found Jacob waiting by one of the legs; he said he had been going to that spot everyday for the past four months waiting for us. It took Matt another two months to meet us.

After we got back together, we traveled around and began to plan what to do next. We had to get back at the gods, but we had to find out what had cut up our mother also. We went through a couple things that got us some answers; those are the things Matthew wouldn't want me to say. Things that are included in there was our needing to steal a helmet from the Pegasus, and some of his feathers, which thus tells why all pegasi hate us. We also faced that swarm of hell hounds, and we even got offered the chance to join this giant monster-demigod army that was going to overthrow the gods. Matt said that it wasn't the revenge that we wanted.

After we got the feathers and helmet from Pegasus we met…someone, who told us to come here to Camp Half-Blood. We needed to come here to meet the Oracle, only the Oracle can tell us where we can go to complete the deal. A deal that we three made to find our mother's killer, and if we don't complete the deal, we'll all die.

I can't really say more. You'll have to talk to Matthew to figure out the rest of it, he is the smartest of us three.


	8. Meeting Up

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Annabeth's POV

I was walking towards the Cabins, Steven had said that Matthew would probably be there, near the hearth in the middle of the Cabins. As I was walking, I thought about what I had just learned. These three were brothers, same mother but different fathers, mother was killed by something older than gods, the three wanted revenge (making them very dangerous people), the gods want them dead, and Matthew is somehow the leader of this trio.

I was getting close to the Cabins when Percy ran into me, literally. As he helped me up I was able to ask, "Percy? Why in the name of the gods where you running so fast that you knocked me over!" I screamed at him. He looked a little hurt but after I jokingly nudged his arm, he realized that I was messing with him.

"Well I was just talking to Jacob. Then I came out here looking for someone actually." He answered a little shyly.

"Oh really?" I gave him a skeptical look, "May I ask whom?"

"Well…um…actually, I was looking for you." He wasn't making eye contact with me, and he was beginning to blush. I thought he was so cute at that moment, but then I felt my cheeks heat up and found that I was blushing as well.

"Really? Why were you looking for me?" I tried to stay strong and not mix up my words as Percy did when he tried to talk to me about our…whatever it is we have. _Quit lying to yourself, you know what it is between you two._ Great I'm talking to myself again. Well voice, there is nothing between Percy and me except our…great friendship. Oh hell, I'm (well my internal voice at least) is right. There is more between us that neither of us will except. If I get into a…_relationship_ with Percy, my mother will fry him like a chicken. But if I don't get with Percy, I'll regret it forever, for not being with the guy that I…

"Annabeth!" Percy grabbed my shoulder and pulled me towards him so that I didn't run into the tree that I was heading towards.

"Whoa! Thanks Percy." I sighed with relief because I hadn't embarrassed myself and because I was a little afraid of finishing my last thought.

"I thought I was supposed to be the Seaweed Brain here, _**Wise**_ Girl." He said with a boyish grin, making me blush more.

"What were you thinking about?" Percy asked.

"Oh, um…just…uh…nothing." I didn't look at him so that he didn't see me blush. I would never admit that I was thinking that we should get together. I want him to make the first move. _But why do I want him to do it first?_ My intellectual side says that it's because my mother will kill us both if I did, but my heart tells me that it's because I'm scared that he'll be scared to get in a relationship and I'll lose him. But if he makes the first move, than I'll know that we can be together.

"ANNABETH!" Percy screamed.

_Crap! I did it again._ "Sorry Percy. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately and I just miss everything."

"Well are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Then I remembered something that he had said. "Did you say you met Jacob? What did he say?"

"Well, he told me that all three of them are brothers of the same mother. That their mother was butchered by something older and more powerful than the gods. That the gods have demanded that they be killed on sight. That they made some sort of deal with someone, and they may all die because of it."

"I heard the same thing from Steven. He said when they got split up on the plane, he got sent off to New Orleans. And then he met up with Jacob and Matt at the St. Louis Arch the day that we got attacked by the Chimera."

"Yeah, but that was 4 years ago. That means that Matt is 20, he looks 17. And then Steven is 18, and Jacob is 16."

"So did Jacob say what happened to him in Philadelphia?"

"He said he met up with a travelling theater group of Wicked and travelled across America for a while. He said he was 12 and didn't know better. But when the monster attacks were happening more and more he left the group and began heading for the Arch. And when he got there, he saw me fly through the Arch when the Chimera tried to fry me."

"So now we just need to talk to Matthew. Apparently he's the head of the pack and he forced the others not to tell us some things like the deal."

"Or what it is that he sensed when their mother was killed. I think he knows more than he told the others, it wouldn't be the first time I bet."

"Steven said he'd probably be near the hearth by the Cabins."

"The what?"

"The big fire place in the middle of thee U of Cabins. It's supposed to be a symbol of family so I guess it's important to him."

We walked the rest of the way in silence. Sometimes I looked at Percy and it looked like he was thinking about something and he wanted to say something but couldn't. Along the way we saw more couples walking together and flirting. This put me and Percy in an even more awkward situation. _Could Matthew be doing this on purpose? Making people fall in love so that me and Percy will. But why would he do that?_

"Annabeth! There he is." He pointed towards the hearth and Matthew was there with his back to us. The fire in the hearth was a lot larger than usual. I also could hear him talking to someone.

I heard Percy whisper, "Why's she talking to him?"

"Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go talk to him." I began dragging him away; I saw Nico and Jace making out by the Hades cabin again.

"I'm coming Wise Girl."

As we walked up to Matthew, he turned to look at us with his Bible open in his hands.

"Hello." He said very emotionless. His face did show any emotion.

"You know that we talked to your brothers." Percy said very matter-of-factly.

"Yes I do." He replied.

"And you know that we came to you to figure out what they won't tell us."

"Yes I do." He answered again.

"So start talking." I said a little too aggressive.

"You could ask a little more nicely." He gave me a snobbish look, "But first, Percy, is it true that you are invincible?"

"Uh, yeah it is. I went down to the River Styx and now I can't be harmed." He said proudly.

"_So put on all the armor that God gives you, so that you will be able to stand up against the Devil's evil tricks. Then when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist the enemy's attacks; and after fighting to the end, you will still hold your ground._" He read out of the Bible. "Ephesians Chapter 6, verses 11 to 13."

"Um…okay?" Percy replied awkwardly.

"So are you going to tell us or not?" Now I was just getting annoyed.

"Yes I shall, but first I must show you something so that you will understand." Matthew then turned the page on the Bible and the whole thing began to glow, and something began to come out of the pages.


	9. The Deal

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

My eyes just kept getting bigger as an object began to rise right out of the pages of Matthew's Bible. I looked over at Annabeth and saw her eyes grow even larger.

Out of the pages came what appeared to be a Greek helmet made of pure gold, but it just radiated energy, just like Zeus's Master Bolt had.

"I bet you're wondering what kind of Bible is this, right?" Matt asked us while we kept staring at the helmet.

"Uh…hell yeah!" Annabeth responded as if he asked the stupidest question ever. And Annabeth must have really thought that that was a stupid question because she never swears.

"Well _this_ book was written millions of years ago and was then later blessed my the goddess of magic, Hecate. She gave it thousands of different abilities, one of which is being a type of storage device for anything of any size." He said as if that were a normal thing to find in a book.

"Wait," I said, "Now I'm a Catholic and I know that Jesus was alive about 2000 years ago and the Gospels, and entire New Testament, was written until around the 6th century or something." I saw Annabeth give me a surprised look, apparently I didn't seem like the person who would know such things. That made me feel a little proud of myself. But Matt looked like he was waiting for me to hit a certain bit of information. "So that can't be millions of years old." Annabeth just nodded.

"Well…nah, I'll tell you about that later. But this helmet is the main thing." He held up the glowing helmet.

"Is that made of celestial bronze?" I asked.

"No," Matt replied, "It is made of celestial gold."

"That's not possible." Annabeth looked a little confused, "Unless…" Then her eyes widened and she looked really nervous about something.

"Yes, Annabeth. This is the golden helmet of Chrysaor." At the mention of the name the helmet's glow intensified.

Obviously, I don't know anything about Greek mythology, so the first thing I said was, "Who is that?"

"Chrysaor is the brother of Pegasus and son of Medusa." Matt replied. "Remember, Medusa was cursed by Athena because Poseidon had sex with her in Athena's temple as revenge." Me and Annabeth looked at each, we didn't know that. "But because Medusa was both a mortal and a monster, she couldn't have Poseidon's children. But when Perseus cut off her head, Pegasus and Chrysaor were able to be born from the blood."

"But why, then, do you have Chrysaor's helmet?" Annabeth asked.

"Well you see, Pegasus sided with Poseidon on blaming Athena, but Chrysaor thought that Athena's actions weren't wrong in that Poseidon had done a terrible thing. So they began fighting each other, and somehow, Pegasus got Chrysaor's helmet. Now, while my brother's and I were trying to find answers to my mother's…" He seemed to choke on the word and I saw his eyes begin to water, "…death. We met Chrysaor, he said he knew who had killed our mother, and that he would tell us if we retrieved his helmet."

"So we go out and eventually we land in Toronto, Canada where Pegasus was rumored to be living. We found him and, while he was sleeping we grabbed the helmet. Then Pegasus attacked and we ran; now all pegasi hate us because we sided with Pegasus's enemy." He finished.

"So now you're trying to find Chrysaor so that you can complete the deal and figure out who killed your mother." I concluded.

"Yes, and that is why I need to speak with the Oracle." He said very matter-of-factly.

"You need to speak to whom now?" Chiron asked as he walked up to us.

"Chiron," Matt looked unsurprised that he was suddenly there, "perfect timing. Yes, I need to speak to the Oracle so that my brothers and I can find Chrysaor again."

"Chrysaor?" Chiron looked equally unsurprised by this information, "It is said that no one can find him unless he shows himself to you." I noticed that the helmet had disappeared; Matt must had put it back into the book. _If that isn't the weirdest thing to hear someone say._

"That's true. So may we see the Oracle?" Matt asked politely, but I had a feeling that he would see Rachel anyways.

"Depends on whether the Oracle has anything to say to you." Chiron stated.

"Well then, I'll go get my brothers and meet you back at the Big House."

Later that day, Chiron had the heads of all the Cabins meet in front of the Big House. Then Matt, Jacob, and Steven walked up. Even though most campers where with their very new boyfriends and girlfriends, the girls still gawked at them.

Rachel then came walking out of the Big House. Matthew kneeled in front of her, as did Jacob and Steven. Most of the campers looked confused as to why they were doing it, even Rachel was arching one of her eyebrows.

"Oracle of Delphi," Matt said with his head still down, "I seek a means in which to find Chrysaor and complete our deal."

Now usually when Rachel did a prophecy, her eyes glowed that creepy green color and she spoke in the Oracle's voice. That's NOTHING like what was happening now.

Rachel opened her mouth and, like the old mummy Oracle did, the giant python of green smoke came out and it circled around the Jacob, Matt, and Steve.

_So these are the three. The ones condemned by the gods for being of the same mother._

The Oracle's voice seemed to come right from our minds, but never had the Oracle actually talk as in a conversation. I looked at Chiron and he looked dumbfounded. Matt and the others still didn't move.

_The ones who seek there mother's killer. But shall come across something far worse, and face evils never before seen._

"What is our fate?" Matthew simply said.

The Python then coiled up and pointed its head at them and opened its mouth.

_To end the battle and win the race,_

_The elements themselves you will face._

_The young of the Three will be needed,_

_But there powers must be receded._

_The new shall protect them from foe,_

_And during which meet three for info._

_They shall lead you to the Knight of Gold,_

_So that complete can be made the deal of old._

_A meeting with the gods you will make,_

_But for your escape, two tricks it'll take._

_The source will be found for recreation,_

_But the death of loved will show no elation._

The Python returned into Rachel's mouth.

Matthew stood up before his brothers did, his gaze flew from Nico to Thalia and then to me. Then he said, "Pack up, we leave tomorrow."


	10. Pick Up, Meet Up

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any reference made or thought made.

* * *

Annabeth POV

Matt, Jacob, and Steven left immediately after hearing the prophecy. Funny, they hadn't even been here a day and they're already getting ready to leave. I looked at Percy looking completely confused. _That Seaweed Brain, he is kinda cute though when he's confused._

"What do you think it meant? The prophecy?" Percy asked me.

"As far as I can guess," I started, going over it in my head. "Those three are the 'new' and they are going to protect you, Thalia, and Nico, the children of 'the Three', while they find Chrysaor."

"And," Percy added on, "We'll have to not use our powers; we're going to fight the 'elements', and we're going to meet the gods."

Chiron then walked over to me and Percy from where he was talking to Thalia and Nico. "Well Percy," he started, "you better get ready, and this quest seems far more mysterious and possibly more dangerous than what you've faced before."

"Come on Chiron," Percy said, "we've faced Kronos. How hard could this be?"

"More than you could possibly imagine." Chiron said as he walked off. The sun was beginning to set.

"Well," I started, "We better get to dinner."

"Yeah, see ya there." He said and ran off, probably to pack.

"Annabeth." Chiron had walked up again now that Percy had left.

"Yeah Chiron?"

"You do realize that you will not be joining them on this quest."

"WHAT!" I hadn't figured that out actually.

"This quest is meant for the children of the Big Three and our three newcomers only, no others."

"Then what about me?" Grover asked as he was listening as well.

"You will be staying and help and protect the Camp." Chiron continued. "From what the prophecy said, I can only assume that the enemy will probably attack the Camp."

"I agree." I said. I was still pissed that I had to stay behind. I had always gone with Percy on his quests, except when he came to rescue me. I guess tomorrow I'll have to say goodbye.

**The Next Morning**

Percy POV

Yesterday I realized that Annabeth wasn't coming on our quest, maybe even before she did. But this was gonna be just strange for me. I'd never gone a quest without her except when I had to rescue her. I had a feeling I was going to be very lonely on this quest, even with Thalia and Nico.

We were at the top of the hill waiting for the three brothers. We had our backpacks of clothes, money, drachmas, and food. Annabeth and I were talking, more like complaining that we couldn't go together and that we'd miss the other, when Matthew, Jacob, and Steven drove up in the Camp van.

"Everyone in!" Matt yelled from the driver's window. His eyes were blood red and he looked dreadful.

"I guess Matt is driving." Annabeth commented rather sullenly.

"He looks like he didn't get any sleep." Kinda like me who had a night of dreams of me by the pit of Tartarus, but this time I fell in and landed in a beehive-like cave with holes all over the walls. If that wasn't scary enough, I then saw millions of monster eyes staring at me from the holes.

"Well," Annabeth started, but seemed unable to finish.

I put my hands on her shoulders and made her look at me. She couldn't help smiling when I smiled at her.

"I'll be fine." I whispered to her.

"You better be." I saw tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked, while Matt was sorting out where Thalia and Nico would sit in the van.

"I'm afraid something horrible is going to happen to you."

"You're thinking of the last line of the prophecy?"

"Yeah." She looked away as if to hide her grief from me.

I pulled her into a hug, and she wrapped her arms around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. I blushed a little even at such a tiny action, just like when we were kids.

"Just come back." She said as she pulled away from me. She kissed me on the cheek and ran back towards the Cabins.

"PERCY!" Steven called through the side door, as Jacob honked the horn to get me to move. Matthew just stared at me with that weird look like he was expecting something to happen.

As we were driving, we went through Manhattan, and then I remembered something.

"Are we going to meet the gods now?" I asked.

"No," Jacob asked from the front passenger seat, "Why?"

"Because that's what the prophecy said we'd do." I responded smartly.

"True," Steven answered, "but, the meeting with the gods was said near the end of the prophecy, meaning it will happen after everything else happens that she said would happen."

"WHAT!" I had NO idea what he just said. Then Nico patted my shoulder.

"He means 'not yet'." Nico responded.

After a couple hours of driving and a LOT of pit stops we arrived in…

"Philadelphia?" Thalia asked as we passed the entrance sign.

"Yeah," Matt said while still driving, "We need to pick up something. While we were travelling, we used this place as one of our safe houses because Jacob had already stayed here for a while."

We drove to an old abandoned warehouse in some construction site. From what I could tell from the half finished buildings, I looked like a hospital.

After 20 min. Jacob and Matt came out of the warehouse. Matt was stuffing some type of pole into Jacob's backpack, it was about a foot long and wrapped in a blanket.

"Are we ready to go then?" Steven asked. Matthew then looked towards the unfinished building. The wind had picked up and the metal was making creaking noises, really loud noises.

"Well we could try." Matt said as he pulled the Bible out from his backpack. "But we probably wouldn't make it very far." He opened the book, and held the top of it with his hands. The Bible began to glow so bright that I couldn't even look at it. When the light dimmed, and I opened my eyes, Matthew was holding his two tonfa blades.

"Your Bible becomes the tonfas?" Nico gasped.

"Doesn't matter now! LOOK OUT!" Thalia screamed pulling out her shield and spear.

Suddenly two things burst out through the warehouse's doors. They began circling us. I uncapped Riptide and Nico pulled out his sword. The things circling us were two…

"Dogs?" I couldn't help but say it. They were two dogs, the size of fully grown great Danes but built like bulldog-Rottweiler breeds. And when I say built, I mean literally, these things were metal robots. One was silver and the other was gold. Their mouths were lined with razor sharp teeth.

"The Hounds of Phaeacia." Steven said while holding his hammer to his side like a samurai sword.

Suddenly the silver one bolted towards Thalia and jumped to bite her throat. She smacked it with Aegis and sent it flying threw the air and land 20ft away, but the second she hit it the gold one went for Nico. He rolled to the left and sliced through the mutt. The blade went right threw it and left a long gash in its side, but it didn't seem to have even felt it. The silver one then jumped at me, but before I could raise my blade, the dog got hit by a sonic blast from Jacob's guitar and flew into the random metal poles sticking out of the ground for one of the buildings.

"Hide," Jacob said to me, "the hounds are after you. Get Thalia and Nico and hide."

He then ran into the building after the hound. I ran over to the others. Thalia had gotten cut by the gold hound, she had four gashes across her arm and they were really bleeding. Nico was by her wrapping the wounds, he looked as if his leg had been bitten. Matt and Steven were fighting the gold hound. Steven slammed the ground with his hammer where the hound had been before it jumped onto the structure. The hounds eyes found me and it seemed to focus on me. Steven spun his hammer in the air and threw a fireball at the hound from the hammer's head. But the hound jumped again, but right at me. Matt jumped at it before it got to me and sliced off one of its front legs and the impact threw it off course and crashed beside me. Matt pulled me back to the others, I saw the building Jacob had run into split in half with an orange beam cutting it, then there six others like it. I heard barking come from within the building.

"Matt," I said getting his attention, "Jacob's in there alone with the silver one."

Matthew looked back at Steven. But the golden hound leaped again for Thalia and Nico, and before I could even register what was happening, Matt had run over and cut the hound in half by its midsection. Steven then jumped and crushed the hound's head into a pancake with one hit. Matt then ran over to the other building just as bolt of lightning shot out of its roof. I ran to Nico and Thalia.

"Percy, I need nectar and ambrosia." Nico said. I gave it to him as Steven stood guard by us, looking around for other threats.

"Thalia!" Nico yelled trying to wake her up from unconsciousness. Her arm was looking better, but too much blood had been lost. "Thalia! You have to….PERCY BEHIND YOU!" He screamed pointing behind me. The silver hound was running at me, with parts of it missing and others melted. Matt and Jacob were right behind it, but the hound was too fast. Before it got to us, Nico ran up with his arms wide open.

"NICO!" Matt screamed to us, "DON'T DO IT!"

Nico smacked his hands together and two giant black columns of rock sprung out of the ground and squished the silver hound from both sides. Then stones went back into the ground, with the hound definitely dead.

"Nico!" Matt ran right up to him and screamed in his face. Jacob and Steven both took up there weapons and were waiting for the next enemy to appear. I couldn't see anything, in fact it was actually getting harder for me to see, I looked up and the sky was turning black like a cloud was covering it, a pitch black cloud.

"By using your elemental power you've brought him right to us." Matt yelled at Nico.

"Matt, he's coming!" Jacob yelled.

"Matt, Nico was just protecting us." I yelled at him. What was going on?

"Percy, don't you remember the prophecy?" Matt asked me, he looked scared and kept looking at the skies. "You weren't supposed to use your powers, or else…." The entire sky got covered in black, only the sun still showed through it, but only barely giving us any light to see.

"What's happening?" Thalia said, waking up.

"Or else the 'elements themselves we will face'." Matt finished. I heard footsteps coming towards us.

Out of the darkness, I could see a figure walking towards us, but it looked like two snakes were on either side of him. The darkness seemed to be coming out of his back and floating up to the sky like smoke.

"_And he stretched out with his hand, and there was darkness all across the land." _Matthew whispered, probably a quote from the Bible.

"Damn it!" Steven cursed. His hammer erupted in flame and I could see the figure clearly then, but it didn't help. His skin looked like it was made of pure shadows and his eyes were completely empty, and the two snakes were actually whips that he was carrying beside him.

"I am Erebos, elemental of the Darkness." He seemed to hiss with every _s_ that he said. "And now, you all will die."


	11. The Dark and Grey

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Nico POV

The sky had turned completely black, except for the spot where the sun dimly shined through. The only thing that was allowing us to see was Steven's flaming hammer. Thalia, Percy, and I were standing behind Matt, Jacob, and Steve, who were between us and Erebos. Percy and I had our swords out, and Thalia was using her spear as a support to hold her up. _Thank the gods Jace isn't here, I couldn't stand to see her get hurt. What am I thinking? Well, I guess I do love her so I'm worried, but I better focus on what is actually happening._

"You three stay back." Matt whispered to us, he didn't turn to us. The three were focused on Erebos, and vice versa.

"Percy and Nico," Jacob started, "protect Thalia in case he gets around us."

Steven just chuckled, "As unlikely as that is."

Jacob suddenly shot his hand across the strings of his guitar and sent a sonic blast straight into the ground in front of him, sending up a cloud of dust and dirt. Erebos swung his whips sideways like scissors and cut the cloud in half. Matt and Steven then shot out of the cloud right where Erebos cut it, and flew straight at him. Erebos swung at them again. Matt got hit and fell off to the side, but Steven wrapped the whip coming at him around his hammer and pulled Erebos to him. Surprised, Erebos got pulled off his feet and flew towards Steven, who was raising his hammer to hit him. Just before Erebos reached him, he swung his other whip at Steven's face. Steven ducked just as Erebos flew over him, and Jacob, who was behind Steven, hit the strings again and sent a beam a light at him. When Erebos got hit, he exploded into a black cloud of smoke.

The smoke flew to the side and began to reform into Erebos, but when it was halfway formed, Matt flew through it with his tonfas. As Matt passed through, the half-formed Erebos swung up his arms and nearly got Matt with the same scissors like attack. Now Jacob, Steven, and Matt were in a Y-formation around Erebos and were closing in on him. Erebos began swinging his whips around in front of him, and the whips were growing longer so the three had to keep dodging them while they still moved in closer. Then Erebos began spinning on the spot and his whips with him like that one jump rope game. The whips slid along the ground nearly tripping them so they had to jump, but when they did, Erebos raised the other whip to try and hit them in mid-air. Jacob got hit in mid-air and went flying into a metal pole in ground making a loud crack sound. Then Steven got sliced across the chest with the end of one whip, making a gash.

"NO!" Matt screamed as he charged Erebos. I nodded to Percy and he went to get Steven while I pulled Jacob over to us and started giving them nectar and ambrosia.

Erebos swung both his whips at Matt. He put up his arms to block himself, with the long end of the blades going down his arm and pointed at Erebos. When the whips were going to hit him from both sides, he flung his arms out sideways so the end of the whips wrapped around his arms. Then he moved both his arms out, over, and then under the whips and grabbed the whip with his hand while still holding on to the tonfas. He pulled on the whips, making Erebos fall forwards a bit, but Matt swung his elbows over and under the whips so that they were more wrapped in his arms. Then he started walking towards Erebos, spinning and circling his arms so that the whips became more and more wrapped around his arms and body.

"What in the name of the gods is he doing?" Percy whispered to me.

"Not the slightest idea." I simply replied because I had no freaking idea what the hell was going on.

"He's pulling himself closer to Erebos?" Thalia barely mumbled behind us. And Matthew was.

Soon there were only two feet between Erebos and Matt, but it looked like Erebos had won because Matt was all tangled in his whips. Suddenly Erebos pulled Matt against him. It looked like he was whispering something into Matt's ear. When Erebos slowly pushed Matthew back, his back turned into a black smoke and tentacles grew out of them and looked like they were about to attack Matt. Then Matt swung out his arms to the sides, the tonfa blades along his arms cutting the whips into pieces. Then he stabbed Erebos with the smaller blades of the tonfas and jumped into the air and kneed him in the face. Matt then kicked off of Erebos and jumped backwards a few feet while Erebos went stumbling back, golden ichor dripping from his wounds.

"Do you honestly believe that such weak attacks will defeat me?" Erebos said. His words sounded like they were spoken as whispers into your ear, but he was about 20 ft. from us.

"No," Matt replied, he wasn't even breathing heavy, "but I do believe that you without your weapons will make it easier to." He said with a smug grin on his face.

"You think that such a simple act of 'cutting up' my whips will prevent me, one of the oldest elementals, from continuing to fight? Observe!" And he threw out his hands to the pieces of the whip scattered across the ground. They puffed into little things of smoke and melted into him. Once he absorbed them all, he unleashed an enormous cloud of smoke that engulfed all of us. Now we REALLY couldn't see anything. None of us spoke; we listened to hear if someone was moving.

"Father on High," I heard Matthew saying from my right. "With Thy light upon Your children, show us threw the darkness!" Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came from the direction of Matt's voice. All of the smoke was being pushed away from Matt, who was engulfed in a blinding light, while he held his Bible open above his head. The light seemed to come out of the Bible. Then wind pushed away all the smoke and the light allowed us all to see.

"Time to die." I heard someone whisper behind me. I turned and saw Erebos towering over me with the smoke tentacles on his back moving to grab me.

But just as they were about to grab me, they stopped and Erebos flung back his head while screaming. When he picked his head back up, there was a bronze dagger sticking out of his head.

"Huh!" That was the most intelligent thing I could come up with.

"ANNABETH!" Percy yelled while looking towards the construction site. I looked and sure enough there she was, standing in a position that showed that she had just thrown something.

"Steven!" Matthew screamed from my left, he was running towards me. "NOW!"

Instantly, Steven, who had been passed out by Percy, jumped to his feet and jumped with his hammer spinning at the still swaying Erebos. And from there, Steven just started to beat the bejeezus out of him, never giving Erebos enough time to retaliate and strike back. Steven hit him in the head, stomach, back, and legs; and not just with his hammer, but with his arms and legs. When Steven was done, Erebos was crumpled on the ground with three limbs bent in the wrong direction and his head nearly smashed in. He began to dissolve into black smoke again, but when there was only a tiny amount left, it hopped up and attached itself to Steven's chest and dissolved into him.

"What was that?" Thalia asked, finally able to stand on her own two feet again.

"It was said that if any could defeat an elemental, that the victor would gain their ability. Like a highlander." Matthew explained.

"Can someone explain what just happened?" Annabeth asked as she walked up to us. Percy was right next to her, looking relieved that she was there.

_Thank the gods,_ I thought, _If she hadn't of come, he would have been all moping because she wasn't here. Maybe we can finally get Percy to tell Annabeth that he loves her now that shes here. And, with Matt here, it should be easy._

"Well," Jacob started, he had broken his arm when he hit the pole and it was wrapped up, "we came he to pick up some equipment, and then we were attacked by some monsters. And then Nico got the incredibly brilliant idea to use his power to crush one of them!" He was now poking his finger into my chest accusingly.

"What's so wrong about that!" I yelled back at him. "I saved our lives from that mutt."

"Don't you remember the prophecy?" Steven said to me, his face a little angry as well.

"Yeah," I replied, "If I use my power over rocks, the elementals will come to fight. But I was in a situation where I didn't have a lot of freaking time to decide whether I should do this or not."

"OKAY! ENOUGH!" Matthew screamed over everyone. Then he turned to Annabeth. "And how, if I may ask did you get here?" But he sounded like he already knew.

"Well…" Annabeth started rubbing the back of her neck while blushing, she was really embarrassed by this. "I wanted to come along and help, so I hopped on a Pegasus and chased after you guys." She kept on glancing towards Percy, who also had a little smile across his face.

"So where's the pegasus then?" Percy asked her.

"Blackjack took off when the darkness spread." she answered.

"Explains why we didn't see him." Percy muttered with his head to the ground. Annabeth then wrapped her arms around his and leaned into his shoulder, she looked deadly tired.

"So," Thalia spoke up. "Erebos, the primordial deity of darkness, from the Second Great Age, is out to kill us?" She directed her question at Matt, who seemed to know more about what was going on then anyone else.

"As well as all the other elementals from the 1st, 2nd, and partially 3rd Age." He kept looking around, as if something else were here.

"But why?" Percy asked.

Matthew justed sighed, as if it was obvious. "According to the prophecy, Thalia, Percy, and Nico are to stop a incredibly dangerous evil, and that is because they are are children of the Big Three, and the Big Three are the only gods who have power over a specific element themselves: lightning and sky, water, and stone. My only guess is that the elemental deities are trying to kill us so that these three can't use their elemental powers to stop this evil. The elementals will use monsters to force you to use your own powers so that they can locate you more easily, like the Ring Wraiths in Lord of the Rings, except that you three are the Ring."

"We're the source of unimanigable power which can control the entire world?" Percy said sarcastically.

"I'm going to hit you." Matthew said pointing at him.

"Matt!" Steven cried. He was pointing at a part of the construction site.

"What?" Matt immediately looked to where he was pointing. "Oh bloody hell." Steven had been pointing to a security camera that was focused directly on us. As I looked around, I noticed more and more of them looking at us.

"Now people'll know that we destroyed this place." Jacob said.

"Well," Matt continued, "I think that's our cue to continue moving. Jacob," he said in a hurry with a hint of terror in his voice, turning to his brother, "you got any drachmas?"

Jacob threw the gold coin to Matt, who then walked over to the road and knelt down on the curb and started mumbling something. The road in front of him began to shimmer like mist, then Matt threw in the coin. Then a grey taxi cab rose out of the mist. With an unreadable title on the side of it but I knew who it was. The Grey Sisters.

"How many? And where?" One of the sisters asked. Obviously it was the one without the eye because I could see into the old hags gooey and dripping eye socket, but she did have their single tooth.

Matt walked up to them, and we walked up behind him. Matt said, "Greetings Wasp. Seven demigods and we need to go as far west as you can take us." _West?_ I thought.

"We can go as far as Midwest," said the center sister, who had the eyeball in her head.

"Quiet Tempest," Said the driver, "We aren't supposed to tell the boundaries of our power."

"I didn't mean anything like that Anger." Said Matthew. "But may I suggest a larger vehicle."

"Very well," said Wasp, "Anger! Hit the button!"

"How can I hit the button when Tempest has the eye."

"I'll hit the button when Wasp gives me the tooth."

"Then give me the eye!"

"NO!"

"Ladies," Steven said calmly as he walked up. "May I suggest that Anger, the driver, have the eye so that she can hit the button and drive? And Tempest and Anger take turns getting the tooth."

"Very well." And they traded. When the button got hit, the taxi turned into a 9-passenger transit bus. We all packed in and the Sisters shot off at 120 mph, weaving around cars, and screaming directions that they didn't follow. Eventually they began bickering over the eye and tooth, passing them around. Then Matt reached up and grabbed the eye and Steve took the tooth.

"Where are the eye and tooth!" Screamed Tempest.

"The demigods have them!" Wasp yelled and reached back for us.

"ACCELERATING!" Anger announced. We were now going 160 mph.

"Tell us what you know." Matt said to them.

"Matt give them back the items." Annabeth yelled at him.

"NO! You three are said to know everything. So tell me, who killed our mother." Matt was nearly whispering at the end.

"We don't know!" Wasp screamed. In response, Steven squeezed the tooth, causing all three to scream in pain.

"WHO!" demanded Matt.

"We cannot! The eldest will destroy us!" Tempest wailed. Matt them squeezed the eyeball.

"Who did it!" Matt yelled again.

"Talk to Nereus!" Anger screamed, "He can tell you."

Matt and Steven handed back the items. Suddenly I realized that the car had stopped moving. Jacob opened the door and we all got out. We looked out and saw that we were at…


	12. Summerfest

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Thalia POV

"Summerfest?" I read from the banner of the large entrance gate with the yellow and red smiley face logo.

"Yep, World's Largest Music Festival as set by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1999." Matt answered stepping forward.

"Over 11 days long, with 11 music stadiums that show over 700 bands to between 800,000 to 1,000,000 million people each year." Jacob said excitedly stepping beside his brother.

"Situated in the 75 acres of the Henry Maier festival park, along Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin." Steven said very matter-of-factly, stepping along side his brothers.

I looked at Annabeth, and saw that Percy was too, with a look of amazement. She usually was the one who shot out random facts about special places.

"I say we go in!" Jacob yelled as he ran for the entrance.

"Jacob WAIT!" Matt screamed running after him.

Me and the others just looked at each other with blank faces.

"So…" Percy mumbled looking at his feet.

"Yeah…" Nico mumbled as well, scratching his head.

"Should we go in?" I quietly asked, knowing what everyone's answer, including my own, was.

"YES!" We all screamed and ran for the entrance.

After we convinced Matt that we should go in, we all paid for tickets and walked in.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Jacob screamed, running to each music stand.

I couldn't help but notice all the weird looks Steven got because he was carrying around a giant sledgehammer. He didn't seem to notice, but he sometimes flicked his eyes to the people and I saw his embarrassment.

Jacob ran up to one of those single-person music stands. The guy was playing an acoustic guitar, but he didn't have anyone standing around listening to him. If anything, they Jacob got a kind of impish grin on his face, and he pulled his guitar in front of him.

"Matt?" Jacob looked towards his brother. "Can I?"

Matt looked into the guy's guitar case, where they collect tips, and he didn't have much in it. "Yeah go ahead."

Jacob pointed his guitar at the guy, who looked maybe 20 with jeans and a t-shirt on, and started hitting the little stick right by the strings. A mist seemed to come from the guitar and went into the guitar player.

Jacob then jumped on stage next to the guy, but his guitar was now a banjo. It looked really weird with the flame designs on it. Jacob's jump onto the stage caught some people's notice. The guitar player hit a single note, and then Jacob hit the same one on the banjo. The player then hit a different note, and Jacob hit that one as well. They did this for a little while, then the guitar player played a tiny tune, and Jacob repeated. Then the player did the same tune but on a different octave, and Jacob repeated. The guitar player seemed surprised that he was playing his guitar as he was, as if he wasn't meaning to. The crowd started to gather too, and I saw the mist from Jacob's banjo go on the people as well. This music seemed very familiar…

The guitar started playing longer and longer tunes that Jacob matched with his banjo. _The Dueling Banjos song from the movie Deliverance!_**(A/N: Look it up. It's incredible)** And just as I thought that, they began playing the music at the same time. One would play a main part of the song while the other played background and then they would switch. It was incredible, so intense and dramatic at the same time.

"How's he doing that?" Nico asked, "First that guy was doing a mediocre job at playing the guitar, and now he's freaking amazing."

"It's a blessing of Apollo." Steven responded, looking at his brother with a smile on his face. "Jacob can bestow it on people threw his guitar and make others incredible at playing music."

I looked at Matthew; he was smiling at his brother like he was incredibly proud of him. I think I even saw his eyes water.

When they were done, the crowd flocked around them, throwing tons of money into the guy's guitar case. The people also demanded an encore. Jacob signaled to the guy that he was leaving and that the crowd was his. Jacob walked to the back of the mini-stage and jumped off. We all ran over to him, but what we saw was confusing. Jacob was standing as if he were about to play another song, and his banjo had turned back into an electric guitar, and the guy on stage picked up an electric guitar as well and hooked it up.

"Jacob what are you doing?" Percy asked. Matt and Steven looked unsurprised, as if he did this all the time.

"I want to give this guy something to remember, and give him little more talent as well." Jacob then pointed the end of his guitar at the guy again and the mist appeared as well. The mist connected to the guy, but it didn't completely flow into him, the mist was partially in him and then trailed all the way back to Jacob's guitar.

Jacob stood still for a moment, and then his fingers were like lightning fast on the guitar. And I know how fast lightning can go, and he was nearly at that speed. I immediately recognized the song, _Through the Fire and Flames _by Dragonforce. But the sound of the song wasn't coming from him, in fact he was making no noise at all, the guy on stage was making the music, his hands moving in the exact same way and speed as Jacob's.

"Jacob's channeling his power _and_ music through to that guy?" Annabeth whispered, amazement obvious in her voice.

"And after finishing this song," Matthew started, "that guy will be one of the greatest guitar players in the world."

Jacob kept playing, but the music was so loud that I couldn't tell if it was coming from him or the other guy. The music was somehow being amplified. _The blessing of Apollo._ Jacob was using magic to make the music more powerful. Then I heard something else. I heard drums playing with the song, but there weren't any on the stage. Then I heard another guitar playing, I looked at Jacob but he was still playing the main guitar. The mist that was connecting the guitar and the guy on stage was glowing a bright orange, as if turning into pure light. Jacob was getting covered in the mist as well, it made his image distorted. I began seeing multiple images of Jacob, they were all standing in the same place but they were each doing something different. One was playing a bass guitar, one was on a drum set, and another was playing a keyboard. He was creating the music from each instrument at the same time. Each instrument was blue with orange flames, and each one was still connected by mist to the guy on stage. The guy on stage though just stayed as a guy playing guitar, but the other parts of the music were still there and the crowd seemed to notice but not think it odd. I looked at Jacob again and he appeared with his electric guitar again. His guitar was glowing, the flames painted on it seemed to move as if real; the connecting mist was now a beam of light; and Jacob himself seemed to be glowing a bit, his eyes looked like dimmed versions of the sun.

Percy then grabbed Matt's arm and dragged across the street from the stage. We all followed, Steven looking like he was about to attack Percy if he hurt Matt.

"Why don't you tell us what the hell happened in the taxi with the Grey Sisters." Percy asked him.

"I thought it was quite obvious." Matt calmly answered. "I was asking them who killed my mother."

"And risked all of our lives, even the lives of your brothers," Percy added pointing to Steven, "to figure that out! We could have died."

"No we wouldn't have." Matt stated very simply. But I noticed him look sadly at Steven, as if he didn't realize his actions could have gotten his brother hurt or even killed.

"And how would you know?" Percy demanded. Grabbing Matt with both his arms, Steven started to grab his hammer but didn't attack.

"We couldn't have died because the prophecy would then have been told differently, and so, because we didn't do any of the other things that the prophecy said we would, I knew we would not die. But I had to ask the Grey Sisters for the information that they gave."

"WHAT INFORMATION! AND WHY DID YOU HAVE TO!" Percy began screaming, attracting some very unwanted attention. Annabeth grabbed his arm and that immediately calmed him down. They looked into each others eyes and seemed to send some type of silent message to each other. Percy dropped his arms, and Annabeth put her hand in his and laced her fingers around his. I glanced at Matt and saw him giving Annabeth and Percy a weird look like he was waiting for something to happen. I suddenly thought of Luke, gods I miss him. I wish he were here, just the thought of him holding me in his arms made me feel better, but I still wished that he was here. I had always known that I had feelings for him, but it wasn't until this past week that we admitted that we loved each other. A lot of people had done the same thing, Connor Stoll and Katie Wright and a bunch of others. I looked at Matt again and saw that he was giving me the same look. _Is Matt the one who made everyone fall in love? And now he's doing it to Annabeth and Percy?_ I thought to myself glancing in their direction, apparently Matt caught that too.

"They aren't as easy to work with." Matt whispered to me. I had no idea what he meant.

"In the prophecy," Matt started again. He keeps talking about the prophecy; I've never seen someone look with such depth into one before. "We are going to meet 3 sources for information. Now I'm not sure if the Oracle herself was one of those sources, but I guessed that the Grey Sisters were one, and they were. They told us that the eldest would destroy them, but that could mean the eldest monster, god, or deity. But still that narrows it down as to who killed our mother and who it is that we are looking for, I believe that both are connected and that we are all looking for the same person."

"So," I said, "We find the person that killed your mother, and that person is the one who is trying to kill us?"

"Correct." Matt answered. "And they told us to find Nereus, who should be another source of information."

"If we're looking for Nereus," Percy started, he seemed much calmer, "we need to head for San Francisco, that's where he lives."

"Really?" Matt looked surprised that Percy knew that, "Well then, we know our next destination. Let's get Jacob and go." He turned to behind the stage but Jacob was gone, I hadn't even noticed that the music had stopped or that the light that he had been making had gone out.

Matt ran over to the stage and asked the guitar player where he went. Apparently one of the stage's acts hadn't arrived and they saw Jacob and asked him to play for them. Matt ran off towards the Harley Davidson stage where Jacob was said to be headed.

We got to the stage and saw giant crowd, and on the stage was Jacob alone except for the electric workers. The stage was filled with electric guitars, drum sets, a saxophone, and even a large grand piano. Matt ran up to get him but the crowd prevented us from keeping up with him. Matt jumped on the stage and ran to Jacob. The crowd started getting restless and angry when Matt jumped on stage. I saw Matt whisper something into Jacob's ear, and then he sat down at the grand piano. He then started playing, but I saw Jacob doing the mist thing to Matt. But the mist didn't connect Matt to Jacob, but Matt to the entire crowd. He started playing _Your Song_ by Elton John **(A/N: Look up this song and listen to it before continuing, it's a beautiful song)**. The crowd became entranced by the song, even me and the others stopped to listen.

The music that Matt was playing seemed to literally come off of the piano. Wisps of colored…stuff, were coming out of the piano. Each thing of "smoke" appeared as a musical note was played, and the color seemed to represent its intensity. These wisps spread out among the crowd and bathed each person in the music. The wisps then seemed to bind people together. A purple wisp surrounded a couple sitting next to each other and then turned a pinkish-red; the couple then snuggled closer together and leaned in to kiss. I heard one of them say "I love you" to the other. This was happening to almost everyone, even to people who seemed like total strangers, the mist just connected them and they apparently fell in love. A cloud of smoke surrounded me and I became worried, I was afraid the smoke would make me fall in love with someone, when I already had Luke back at Camp. But the mist just stayed around me alone, and with it came memories of me with Luke. I turned and saw that Nico was in a similar mist, probably thinking about Jace, but Steven didn't have a mist around him. Percy and Annabeth's mist was weird, the mist was the pink-red color, but instead of connecting the two together, it seemed to form a bubble around them. There were thin lines of smoke that reached into the bubble and partially connected them but not completely. Their faces showed that they were oblivious about the mist bubble around them.

When Matthew finished, everyone stood up and started clapping. I turned around and noticed that almost all of the people in the area were standing to listen. Even other music players had stopped to listen. Matthew then started playing 100 Years by Five For Fighting, and there was dead silence from the crowd.

I then felt a shudder in the ground; a stand next to me began shaking. I shook Percy, Annabeth, and the others out of their trance from the music and got them to feel the rumbling as well.

"Look!" Nico shouted pointing to our left. Something was forcing the crowd to divide, some people even went flying, but no one else noticed, all of them being mesmerized by the music. I could see part of what was coming right at us. The thing was apparently running on all four legs, had dark brown fur, and there were two spikes sticking out off him.

"Is it the Minotaur?" Percy said backing up and pulling out his pen Riptide. He looked a little scared and I couldn't blame him, he's fought it twice in his life now, and neither were on good occasions.

"No, it isn't," Annabeth said, pulling out her dagger, "The Minotaur would run on his two hind legs only. I have a feeling that this is…" Suddenly the monster lifted it's head and shot a Dip'n Dots cart at us, causing us all to run.

Jacob ran over to us, Matt was still playing the piano and still had the mist connecting him to the crowd. I saw his eyes, he was REALLY worried and scared, and I guessed that it was because he couldn't help protect his brothers.

"Matt said he has to keep playing so the crowd won't panic." Jacob told us as he ran up and took a battle stance with his guitar. The thing continued to run at us. It's fur began to shine in the sunlight, we ran for an opening behind the crowd. The creature jumped in front of us and we got a good look at it.

The thing was the size of a Hummer. It's fur gleamed as if made of bronze. Its hooves were made of a shiny silver colored metal. But what really attracted our attention were its horns. Each was about 10 feet long, the pointed ends were stained red (probably from blood) while the rest was an ivory color, and they had this glow around them and I even saw sparks fly off of them.

"The Marathonian Bull." I said, I had already pulled out my spear and shield, my bow and arrows were on my back just in case. The others looked at me in surprise. "What? I'm a Hunter with Artemis, I probably know more monsters than any of you."

"Then how do you know this one?" Steven asked, holding his hammer like a baseball bat.

"We hunted the Bull about a year and a half ago. Artemis says that pure animal monsters are able to come back more easily because they are driven by instinct and not intellect. The Bull's hide is completely impervious to attack, its hooves are made of steel, and the horns have a type of electric current passing through them." I stared at the Bull and he began to paw at the ground.

"How is that even possible?" Percy asked. But before I could answer, the Bull charged at us. We all either jumped or rolled to the side. The thing was crazy fast.

"Artemis said in ancient times, some demigod got it struck by lightning and its horns absorbed it all and it just stayed there." I answered.

"Remember!" Jacob screamed as he rolled to the left. "No elemental powers."

"Any ideas how to beat it?" I asked Annabeth who had jumped next to me. "Artemis led the Bull away from the Hunters, so we never saw how to defeat it."

"I'm not sure, I can't remember how they beat it in ancient times." She was looking around and stopped when she saw that Percy was okay.

"Don't worry about him, he's indestructible remember?" I scolded, we had a fight to win and innocent people to protect. But something that I said struck a nerve, she looked a little nervous and glanced back at Percy, who was already up and circling the Bull.

Steven had run up behind it and used his hammer to knock its two back feet out from under it, making it tip over. Jacob had run to a second story balcony of some restaurant and jumped off, while in the air he shot a sonic blast straight at the Bull's head. The Bull stood up, but it looked disoriented and wasn't walking straight.

Me and Annabeth ran for it, and even though the Bull was confused it still registered that we were coming to attack. So it swung its head at us. I blocked one of them horns from hitting me, but the electric charge from it sent me flying into a foot massage chair, and the electric shock on me turned it on. I did, however, cause the other horn to miss Annabeth and hit the ground instead, but that sent a million sparks flying up into her face. But when I looked again, Percy had jumped in front of her and used his shield to protect her. He was holding her in his arms, and she looked a little red when she realized it and got him to let her go.

The bull then pointed its head right at Jacob and Steven. A bolt of electricity connected between the two horns. A giant bolt of lightning then shot at them. Steven stabbed the hendle of his hammer into the ground. The lightning connected with the metal head of the hammer then passed through the handle and into the ground. _A lightning rod._

Nico jumped up on the Bull's back and ran for the head, but he didn't have his sword drawn. He sat on the things neck and grabbed at its hair and held on for dear life. The Bull began bucking and running everywhere trying to fling Nico off. He kept head butting things and sent them flying or shot sparks and electricity everywhere. Jacob and Annabeth nearly got hit by a bolt.

"Percy!" Nico shouted. "Throw them to me now!"

Percy then threw a rope to Nico. I thought that there was no chance that he'd catch it, but miraculously he did. The rope was really long and orange. The Bull was now spinning on the spot, dragging his horn along the ground and sending sparks everywhere, including Nico's face.

"Are they trying to lasso it?" Steven asked running up to us. I couldn't answer. I noticed that the music had changed, I looked back and saw Matthew still at the piano, and he was playing the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean. His face was filled with terror and he was really scared. I tried to make it seem like we had everything under control, but it probably didn't work.

"What is he doing!" Annabeth screamed.

Nico was reaching for the electric horns, and he was still holding onto the orange rope. But the end of it looked like it was divided in half, with a red and black end.

"Electric cables." I said to myself. I looked around for Percy. He had the other end of the cables attached to a metal pole dug into the ground.

"We have to distract the Bull, so that Nico can attach the cables." I screamed. Everyone nodded to me and ran off.

Jacob began playing what sound like Savior by Rise Against. When he was playing, the top of the guitar began to glow blue. He pointed it at the Bull and shot of blue energy shot at it. He was firing at the feet, so as not to hit Nico. With this distraction Nico attached the cables to the horns. Then the electricity made both of the horns glow white and we could see the lightning move down the cables, into the pole by Percy, and pass into the ground. It did this for a few seconds until all the electricity was out of his horns and in the ground.

"Way to go Nico and Percy!" Annabeth yelled. She looked to Percy. He began to smile then a look of horror came across his face.

"ANNABETH!" Nico screamed. She turned and tried to dodge but it was too late. The Bull ran right at her and stabbed her in the stomach with its horn.

"N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!" Percy screamed. He ran beside her. Nico jumped off the Bull and ran for her, I grabbed some nectar and ambrosia and ran to her as well.

Jacob jumped up onto the Bull and his guitar had become a violin. He began playing the Devil Went Down To Georgia, and he was making the Bull run around confused. Jacob got it to run off a ledge and into Lake Michigan, the Bull disappeared under the water and didn't come back up.

Matthew finally stopped playing music. He appeared beside Annabeth before I could even register that he had been running. The nectar and ambrosia weren't working quick enough, and I dare not give her more otherwise she would die anyway. The wound was about two inches in diameter and really deep. We were putting all the pressure we could on the wound but it was bleeding like crazy.

"Matthew." Percy said in an pleading tone. "What do we do?"


	13. Songs of the Sea

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any reference made or thought made.

* * *

Matthew's POV

"Matthew," Percy said in a pleading tone, tears already rolling down his face, "What do we do?" He was holding the body of the girl he loved, and she was fading fast.

I looked around the Summerfest grounds, luckily I had used Jacob's blessing to make the people oblivious to us or the extensive damage that Bull had caused. Options were flying threw my head lightning fast. Hospital? No. Nectar and Ambrosia? Gave her too much already, can't risk more. Apollo healing powers? No, wounds too great. I looked towards the main entrance when I saw it. _But can I risk it. One will definitely come to get us._ I looked back down at Annabeth, her eyes showing the pain she was in. _I'll risk it, for their love and for the family._

"Percy," taking his attention away from Annabeth again, "and Nico, take Annabeth to the fountain by the main entrance. Percy, that is where you will heal her." I had seen the fountain by the entrance. It was a large circle in the ground with holes in the ground squirting up water at random times in random places, kids were playing around in it, but in the center was a larger spray of water that went on continuously.

Nico moved to help Annabeth up, but Percy put his arms around her shoulders and under her legs and lifted her up instantly and he began running for the fountain with Nico behind him.

"But Matt…" Steven started.

"I know." I replied before he could finish.

"An elemental will come when they sense Percy using his powers." Jacob said.

"I know, but we can not let Annabeth die. She is part of our family, and I would not ask Percy to make such a sacrifice so that we could go unnoticed. And besides," I said with a grin on my face, I looked back at my younger brothers, "we defeated an elemental before, and we can definitely do it again." They both started to smile.

"Especially with the training we got from the…" Jacob started, but then Steven slammed his hand on his mouth.

"From the what?" Thalia said behind me. _DAMN! I forgot she was still here. Thank God Steven did that._

"From each other." I quickly finished for him. But Thalia didn't miss a thing; she knew that we weren't telling her everything.

We ran for the fountain and saw that Percy was already sitting near the main water spray. He had his left hand on the hole in her chest and his right arm was in the water. The water seemed to move along his arm, across his chest, and onto his other arm where it spread across Annabeth's wound. I could see the water cover the sides of the wound and start to heal them. It was healing faster and Annabeth was looking better, but not by much.

The ground began to shake beneath us, and the people around us seemed to notice it as well.

"Matthew," Steven said, "It's almost here."

"Percy keeping working on Annabeth." Percy was already looking weak from all the healing. "Nico stay with Percy and give him some nectar if he loses too much energy before the healing is complete. Thalia stay with them until it is done, my brothers and I will deal with the elemental. If anything should come after you guys, Nico and Thalia, you are to guard Percy and Annabeth, even if she is completely healed, she won't be able to fight."

Jacob, Steven, and I ran for the source of the tremors, which had grown in strength, while Nico and Thalia stayed with Percy and Annabeth. The people at Summerfest had started running for the exits, as did the music players and workers.

At the edge of the lake, where there appeared to be some type of golf set up, there was a small island with golf flags up where players had to try and get a hole-in-one. The little island exploded and dirt and debris fell everywhere making the crowd scream and run like crazy. With the area clear, it would be easier for my brothers and I to fight.

On the beach in front of us, the water's surface began to shake. The water seemed to rise into the air and the water was in the shape of a person.

I thought of a line from Revelations Chapter 13, verse 1, "_And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea._"

The water rose to about ten feet, and the water took the shape of a man. This guy had spiky blue hair that puffed out like a porcupine and fell down his back, he had a clean-shaven face except for some blue wavy tattoos across his forehead, he had hawk-like eyes, an upturned nose, a thin grin across his face, and he had armor that appeared to be made of sapphire fish scales. He stepped onto the beach about twenty feet away from us. His armor covered his whole chest, back, and upper arms. He had full-length pants that seemed to be made of black, liquid ice. But his skin is what was truly interesting. His skin had a blue-ish hue and seemed to move like the water's surface, and whenever he blinked, a ripple would form and move down his face. His eyes were normal, but the irises were a dark blue color.

"And who might you be?" Jacob asked. He had his guitar in front of him, but he was holding it like a regular guitar, not like the deadly weapon that it was.

"Since I am the more powerful being with more authority, you should be telling me who you are first." He said rudely. His voice sounded like a voice I once heard in a videogame, kinda high but with a lot of authority. He began to shrink to our size, and stopped at about six feet tall.

"Well," Steven said, "we don't like to be impolite. I'm Steven, and this is Jacob and Matthew." We nodded as our names were called. I had my Bible already in hands, waiting for when I'd have to call out my weapons. "We are the people who will be kicking your ass very soon. Now who are you?"

"How dare you!" The guy yelled, he probably never heard anyone talk to him like that. "I am Pontus, Deity of the Sea, child of Aether and Gaia, and one of the Lords of the Third Era!"

"That seems like a very large name." Jacob said sarcastically, getting Steven and me to laugh a little. "How about we just call you Pontus?"

"Why am I wasting my time with you?" Pontus said. He turned his head right to where Percy was healing Annabeth. _He can sense where they are._ He began to walk towards them, but we jumped in front of him.

"Sorry," I started, "We can't let you kill them. We need them to find out who killed our mother. Do you know who that would be? I'm sure you do."

"That I do, but I'm not one to give away secrets that important." Pontus said with an evil smile on his face, he looked like he just realized who we really were. "You think your role is to just be the guardians of those three?" nodding his head in the direction of Percy, Thalia, and Nico. "You have no idea how significant your lives truly are."

"What do mean by that?" Steven asked.

"Doesn't matter. You won't be alive long enough to care. And neither will those other three." He thrust his hand in front of him and shot a blast of energy at us, sending us flying into a wall. He walked towards the others again, but we jumped in his way again.

"Persistent little demigods. No matter, I don't have to kill those three myself. I'll let my new servants deal with them while I kill you." He pointed his hand at the water and the surface began to shake.

Out of the water came creatures that I have never read or seen in my life. They were humanoid, but their skin was made of ice and beneath it, within their bodies was bright blue water. Their bodies were covered with armor made of the same sapphire material that Pontus's was made of. They had swords made of black metal like Nico's. And they were walking along the water's surface and heading right for the others.

"Gifts from my brother Styx," He looked back at us, "He couldn't make it today."

The water from the lake rose and, like two snakes, they moved their way through the air to Pontus's hands. They began to spin in circles around Pontus's hands until they were solid disks.

I morphed my Bible into my tonfa, and Jacob and Steven got ready as well.

The water suddenly stopped moving, and then exploded. What were left in his hands were metal rings of some kind. The shape was a single large ring, with two poles making a perfect X in the center. In the four spots where the poles touched the main ring, there were four smaller rings. On each of the four small rings, and in between each ring was a small blade made of blue steel. Maybe 8 inches long, and there were eight on each.

"Chakrams?" Steven asked. "Few know how to use such a weapon, and even fewer can use them properly."

"Luckily I've had millennia to practice." Pontus said as he began to swing one on his right hand while he held the other firmly in his left.

I looked back towards the others. I could see Thalia and Nico fighting the ice creatures. Whenever one was hit they would explode, throwing ice shards everywhere and where their internal water splashed, it turned to ice. They were doing well, but wouldn't last forever.

We got ready to face Pontus; we remembered our training, wait for your opponent to make the first move.

Pontus spun on the spot and threw his chakrams at us like Frisbees. As each one flew, a stream of water followed along its path. Steven ducked, Jacob bent himself backward to dodge it, and I had to jump to dodge the one coming at me. The chakrams flew back into Pontus's hands and then he charged. He began spinning the chakrams in his hands like buzz-saws, but these were probably a lot more deadly. We ran at him. I jumped and brought down both of my hands together, longer blade extending out. Pontis raised one of his hands and the chakram stopped dead to catch my tonfa blades before they hit him. Steven then came from behind and swung his hammer to hit him from the side, but Pontus used the other chakram to stop the hammer dead on the spot, and Pontus's arm didn't even shudder when they made contact.

_He's got a lot of strength and he is good at see all around himself quickly._ I analyzed, studying my opponent was another thing we learned.

By keeping both of Pontus's arms occupied, Jacob was able to use the distraction to shoot a sonic blast right into Pontus's stomach, sending him flying through the air. But just as he was about to fall on his face, a wave shot up from the beach and the water formed a slide that allowed Pontus to land safely on his feet and with a smug look on his face. He began spinning the chakrams like saws again, but this time he pointed the flat side of the chakrams at us. The wave that had saved Pontus suddenly flew through the chakrams and shot at us in the form of water bubbles. We all dived to the side as a few of the bubbles shot past us and exploded on the restrooms behind us. Where the bubble "popped", the water froze instantly into ice. Pontus began shooting the bubbles at us again. Steven set his hammer aflame and began swing it like a samurai sword/baseball bat and destroying any bubble that would hit him, but the fire prevented the hammer from freezing. Jacob began playing what sounded like a Blink-182 song_ The Rock Show_, and whenever he moved his pick across the strings, a beam of orange light shot out and cut the bubbles in half. If a bubble came at me, I used my tonfa to deflect it away from me, or I hit with the flat side of the blade and batted it away.

Pontus stopped firing the bubbles at us. I took the opportunity to look at the others. Most of the ice monsters were gone, and most of the area frozen in ice. I turned back towards Pontus, his chakrams were spinning in circles around him while his hands were in the air.

"RISE!" He screamed.

A giant wall of water shot up in a circle around us, maybe 20 yards in diameter. Pontus jumped backwards into the water and disappeared.

"Don't touch the water." I ordered.

"He's moving within the wall." Jacob said pointing towards a part of the water wall. I could see Pontus moving within the water, maybe 10 feet above us, but he looked about 10 feet away from us as well.

"The water is wider on the inside." Steven stated.

Pontus began hurtling towards us. Jacob pointed the headstock of his guitar at the wall and played some notes, the head began blue and then shot blue energy bolts into the water. Pontus swam around these and kept coming.

"MOVE!" I yelled. We jumped to the sides just as Pontus shot out of the wall, but to prevent him from falling, pillars of water shot up beneath him and kept him elevated. Pontus shot clean across the circle and went back into the wall. Where the water pillars had been were a line on frozen circles on the ground. Pontus did this a few more times. I tried to hit him as he flew over us, but he was to high. Jacob shot more energy bolts at him, but Pontus easily dodged them.

"We have to get him out of the wall." I said.

"I got an idea." Steven said with a grin. "Where is he?"

"2 o'clock." Jacob answered.

I turned to see him, Pontus was coming at us again. Steven held his hammer like a baseball bat again, like he was going to hit Pontus like the ball. Just before Pontus broke through the wall, Steven through up his left hand, and a ball of fire flew up. When Pontus broke through, Steven hit the ball as it fell, and smacked the ball right into Pontus's face. The ball exploded like a flaming firework, and Pontus crashed to the ground.

Pontus stood up to face us, his skin had gone from a blue tinge to a red one.

"I think he's about to boil over." Steven said. He was on my left and Jacob on my right.

Pontus began to smile, and I saw his hands twitch.

"MATT!" Steven and Jacob yelled. I turned to see. The ice on the ground from the water pillars had melted and were now entombing my brothers; they couldn't move.

"Now it's just us." Pontus said as he charged me. He swung his chakrams at me and I easily blocked them, because they were so large, they moved more slowly. But because they were so wide, Pontus was able to block any attacks I made. Pontus was even throwing the chakrams like Frisbees again, and they would fly through the air with their water tails and attack me, and then fly right back to him. At one point he threw both, vertically, right at me. I threw up my blades side to side to block them, but they just stayed there and kept spinning like saws. I got an idea. I threw my arms up, and they went flying. As they came down and back towards Pontus, I jumped at him, making him duck. When the chakrams flew over him as well, I stabbed my tonfas straight down, catching them in their center ring. I began spinning them around on my tonfas.

When Pontus stood up again and was facing me, I threw the chakrams back at him like discs, but sideways and then leapt at him. Pontus threw his arms to the sides to catch them, but his chest was then wide open. I jumped right at him and stabbed him threw the heart, all the way down to the hilt of my blades.

"But the sea can't be tamed." Pontus struggled to say with my blades in his chest.

"True," I responded, I could hear my brothers freeing themselves from the weakened ice. "But the sea can be beaten."

Pontus then turned completely into water and splashed on the ground, but it didn't turn to ice.

My tonfas had a layer of water on them, the water snaked its way off the blade and onto my arms and seemed to disappear beneath my skin. The water wall fell around us. I saw that the others had beaten Styx's monsters and were heading towards us.

"I knew I'd become master of the sea one day." I said jokingly.


	14. Rest Stop, Or Not

I do not own Percy Jackson, or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

I couldn't believe that I had her again, Annabeth once again safe in my arms. As I was healing her, I saw Matt and his brothers facing some guy that came out of the water, and for a second I thought it was my dad, but it looked nothing like him. Then while they were fighting, these water-ice monsters came out of the lake towards us. Thalia and Nico began fighting them, and when one was stabbed, they exploded and the water from within them froze. But even with all this happening around me, all my focus was on the girl in my arms. At first she was quivering from the pain, but as the water kept healing her, she got better. Once the wound in her stomach was fully healed I had the water still try and heal her, and luckily it still had some effect on her. Color returned to her skin and she seemed to relax more in my arms. I never realized that the fighting had ended until Nico and Thalia were pulling me up. Annabeth was unconscious and she was snuggling into my chest. We ran towards Matt, Steven, and Jacob. I saw puddles of waters everywhere, but my focus still never left her. They began talking about where to go next and how, when I felt Annabeth shift around in my arms. Her eyes began to slowly open and she looked up at me, she wasn't heavy or that big in my arms, but to someone else it may have looked awkward but I didn't care. Annabeth opened her eyes completely and our eyes locked on each other, and we both began to smile. I slowly let Annabeth down onto her feet, but I never let her out of my arms, which were around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. I could feel my shirt getting wet. I backed up and she raised her head and I saw her crying.

"I was afraid I'd die." She whispered, her voice filled with sorrow, "I was afraid I wasn't going to make it."

I pulled her back into a hug and held onto her tightly, "I was so afraid I'd lost you, I didn't know what to do." I could feel tears coming to my eyes. "I had to do something, I couldn't loose you. I'll never let you go." We just stood there in each other's embrace.

Jacob POV

_Do they think we can't see them?_ I thought. Percy and Annabeth were snuggling with each other about 10 feet from us. I looked back at Matt; he was giving the two the same look he always does. _He better work quickly if he wants to complete the 3__rd__ part of the deal. I may have to help him._

We had decided to take a mini-bus that was in the parking lot to keep going west. Thalia had gone to call Chiron and tell him where the Camp van is so someone could pick it up. I felt really bad that we had destroyed Summerfest, for lack of a better word.

Nico stepped up and said, "Okay, can I ask a question?"

"Do you really need permission to ask a question?" Steven said, getting me to laugh a little.

"Fine," Nico said a little aggravated. "What is the plan right now?" Percy and Annabeth walked over to us, still in each others arms. Annabeth was leaning into Percy appearing to still be weak, but I could see that she just wanted to be near him.

"This is the plan." Matt started. "We are going to head west, our destination being San Francisco. There we will meet Nereus and figure out what to do next."

"That's it?" Nico said a little flabbergasted, "That's all we've got planned so far?"

"At the moment…" Matt said.

Thalia ran over to us with a scared look on her face. "We have a MAJOR problem!"

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"The President of the U.S. was supposed to visit here today, and now National Security believes that we are terrorists trying to kill the President."

It was then that I heard the distant sound of police sirens, and there were a lot of them.

"Time to go!" Steven yelled. We all ran for the mini-bus that was in the parking lot. We all jumped in and Thalia got into the driver's seat.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked. Thalia began hard-wiring the car and got it to start. "Well…even though the 7th Commandment says '_Thou shall not steal'_, I think we can make an exception for now."

Thalia punched the accelerator. That probably wasn't the best idea when National Security is right outside of the grounds. National Security began chasing us, probably thinking we were the threats, which we technically were.

Thalia drove us through the Marquette Interchange which was broken into ten different winding roads.

"Is this a Freeway or a damn roller-coaster?" Percy yelled as he was thrown into the right side of the bus. Thalia was driving like a crazy person around the other cars. She looked nervous whenever looking out the window which showed how high we were above the ground.

"Steven!" Matt had to yell, "A distraction would be nice! But don't kill anyone!"

Steven moved slowly to the back of the bus. The NS were closing in on us. Steven pressed his hammer against the back door, it began to glow orange but it didn't look hot.

_Oh hell_, I thought. _This is going to get rough._

The road began to shake. I could here the support beams creak and rattle.

"What's going on!" Annabeth yelled clinging on to Percy so she didn't go flying.

The roads making up the "roller-coaster" Freeway began to move like snakes up and down.

Cars everywhere were swerving, including ours. Steven was moving the bridge with his hammer, and we was creating ripples and directing them at the chasing NS trucks. One of the waves in the road shot at the oncoming cars and two went flying and landed flat onto their tires making them pop. Three more were still chasing us.

"Damn they are persistent." I commented.

Steven had support beams break through the bottom of the road and smash into the front of one of the cars.

"I got an idea." Steven said.

"It's not going to kill us will it?" Nico asked.

"Maybe." Steven said seriously. "Buckle in!" He demanded, and we were more than willing to oblige.

By now all the cars on the Interchange had driven away and people had decided it better to stay away. So it was just us and the last two NS trucks. Steven stood in the center of the mini-bus and placed the glowing head of his hammer on the floor. All of the roads making up the Interchange began to close in on each other, spinning around and intertwining to form into a type a tornado shape.

"This is architecturally impossible!" Annabeth yelled looking outside and seeing how the roads were spinning around each other. When one road was bent to far away from the part where it attached to the ground, it would bend ninety degrees straight down and another road would bend in the same way and connect to the road so there was no gap. And the roads were constantly fitting into each other and then breaking off to fit with another road so that we were constantly moving.

"But here's where it gets tricky." Steven said, he was standing perfectly still, even though the bus was swerving back and forth. The NS trucks were still following us. Why they didn't break off and save their skins I couldn't guess, maybe it they saw something else through the Mist. "Matt take the wheel!" Steven demanded.

Matt ran for the driver's seat and Thalia jumped out with pleasure and buckled in instantly, all while Matt got into the driver's seat without making us lose any speed.

"Here we go!" Steven yelled. He tilted the hammer to the left, and the road tilted with it. Each of the roads in the tornado shape began to spin so that they were nearly ninety degrees to there original position and the horizon line was going up-down instead of left-right. We weren't tilted enough so that we would fall, but enough that we began to slide down due to gravity, which Matt fixed quickly. We began to drive sideways and heading down. Like the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman did in the whirlpool at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The roads were getting closer to each other near the bottom and I saw a single opening that I hoped was the exit. The NS trucks were still in pursuit, and that's when Steven did the scariest thing I could imagine.

As we drove over the road, it began to crumble beneath us, so by the time that we were under it, when we drove all the way around the road-tornado, there were rocks falling down on us. The rocks were falling everywhere in the circle, it was a rock slide and they were all falling towards the exit. Steven made it so that the rocks didn't hit us, but one of the rocks hit a NS truck and sent it flying of the already slanted road. I didn't see it land, but I knew Steven wouldn't let them die because of Matt's command. The other NS truck though kept following and miraculously didn't get hit.

We were at the bottom of the tornado or whirlpool of roads and head for the exit when I looked up and saw that there were no more roads now, only metal support beams twisted in incomprehensible ways. We were headed for the exit when I saw on rock fall right above us, and about to seal the exit. Matt floored it and we made it, but the rock fell right behind us and I heard the last NS car crash into it.

We now rocketed out of what was the Marquette interchange at about 200 miles per hour, the bus having gained a lot of speed with the combination of gravity, the spinning from the road-tornado, and Matt not taking his foot off the accelerator when it was already pressed against the floor.

Percy walked up to him on the bus, passing Steven who had passed out from exhaustion from the use of all his power, and pulled Matt, who was shaking uncontrollably from nerves, and put him in a seat while Annabeth brought the car back to under 80 mph and headed west on the freeway.

Steven looked up from his seat which he was laying on and said, "Nothing like adding a little _twist_ to an average day drive huh?" And he collapsed and fell unconscious as we all chuckled a little bit.

**1430 MILES LATER ALONG US-80**

Percy POV

We've been driving for over 24 hours straight. Traffic would get bad; then better. We'd had to make more rest stops than I can count. And used up nearly all of our bank accounts for gas. Thank the gods we could get our parents to transfer money. We hadn't had any run-ins with monsters. We'd begun taking 2 hour shifts while driving the mini-bus and the others would sleep while the one drove.

I was currently driving, but I was still tired as hell. It was about 2 a.m.; Thalia was in the seat closest to me. She had been trying to stay awake to keep me company while the others slept in the back; she was supposed to take over after me. She had dozed off and was hanging over the front of her seat.

I could feel myself dozing off, but I kept shaking myself awake. We had entered Utah about an hour ago. We were heading towards California… To find Nereus… Help Matt and his brothers… And their mystery…deal…

I felt a pain in my head as I lay it down on the hard steering wheel.

H-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-N-N-N-N-K-K-K-K-K!

My head shot up to see a blinding white light in front of me.

"TURN THE WHEEL!" Thalia screamed.

I turned the wheel to the right and swerved back into the proper lane as the 18 wheeler zoomed by.

"Let's stop somewhere." I said and sped into the nearest exit. Thalia walked in back and woke the others up to tell them that we were stopping at somewhere to sleep.

We drove past a sign saying COLEMWE OT SVLTUEILHN! _Damn dyslexia._

"Can anyone read that?" Nico said.

"Hold on," Steven was scribbling on a piece of paper. I could read a bunch of jumbled letters. He was trying to rearrange them to spell something out. "I think it says 'Welcome To Huntsville'."

We drove up to a nice looking motel called, as Steven deciphered it to be, the Mountain Snake Motel. We parked and walked in, it looked nice, had good rooms and even a dining area for breakfast.

Matt walked up to the little old lady receptionist, "Good evening. We would like three rooms, two beds each and one with a couch bed." And after checking ID's and paying we moved into the rooms. I thought it would be me and Nico, Annabeth and Thalia, and Matt and his brothers in the rooms, but Nico and Thalia seemed to be conspiring against me when they ran past me and jumped into the same room and locked me out, and I knew they did it to get me and Annabeth in the same room when they said, "Looks like you two will have to spend the night together in the same room." I could hear them laughing on the other side of the door while I stood there with my facing burning red. I turned to Annabeth to see her staring at the ground while shifting on her feet, her face red as well.

As Matt and his brothers moved into their room, me and Annabeth slowly walked into ours. It was a pretty good room for a cheap little motel: two big soft beds, a clean bathroom with shower, a TV, a patio, and a table with two chairs to sit at.

"I'm uh…" Annabeth stuttered, finally breaking the very awkward silence, "I'm…going to go shower and use the bathroom." She grabbed her bag and, before I could reply, was in the bathroom with the door locked and the shower covering any other noise.

"Um…" I said so intelligently to no one, "okay."

I figured that I could shower in the morning, so I changed out of my dirty clothes with dried mud all over them from Summerfest. I put on a pair of PJ pants and a sleeveless white shirt. It was getting pretty hot in the room, the thermometer at the window said 90 degrees outside. I tried to find an air conditioner, but the motel room didn't have one.

"Everything okay?" Annabeth said quietly behind me. I hadn't even heard the shower stop. She was wearing a sleeveless tank-top and a pair of shorts. Her hair still looked wet from the shower.

"Fine." I replied quickly. I walked to my bed and got in, and Annabeth did the same. She had a nervous smile on her face and I realized that I did as well.

"Well…um…" I said.

"Good night." Annabeth quickly said and laid down putting her back to me. I laid down and faced the opposite direction as well, wondering if I should have said something. But I was quickly falling asleep.

Matthew POV

I sat on the couch. Tired as all get out, but not able to sleep a bit. Insomnia wasn't the problem, not completely at least, but it was mainly the fear that prevented me from sleep.

I looked at my brothers sleeping peacefully, I loved them so much, hoping that their dreams weren't as horrifying as his had always been. Even on the entire trip in the bus, he hadn't slept at all.

I could feel my eyelids getting heavy, but I tried to keep them open. Apparently Hypnos didn't like the idea of me not living through the nightmare again tonight. The room grew dark, and my fear became worse.

Percy POV

I had been having a pretty cool dream of me playing at Summerfest while a water show went on all around me, but I suddenly woke up. I could hear whimpering. I looked to my left and could see Annabeth tossing around in her bed almost violently.

I jumped out of my bed instantly and grabbed her swinging arms.

"Annabeth!" I yelled. "Annabeth…wake up. Wake up, it's okay."

Her eyes shot open, and once she remembered where she was, she began to cry. I hopped onto her bed and hugged her as she curled up and laid her head on my chest.

"It was horrible." She said to me, "There was fire everywhere. And bodies. And a swarm of monsters coming for me." She sounded terrified, what kind of dream was this? "But Matt was there and he was fighting all the monsters, but there was something wrong, his eyes, they were glowing. Glowing like fire." She was shaking in my arms. I rocked her until she calmed down a bit.

She laid down again, and I got up to go to my bed when she grabbed my arm.

"Please," She said, "Stay here." I laid down beside her. "Wake me up if I have the nightmare again."

I nodded, and she leaned against me again. I blushed at the act and thought it childish, but I wanted to be serious since it seemed to worry her so much. I also had the strange impression that her dream related to Matt and his time while the three brothers had been separated.

Matthew POV

_Oh God, please not again! _I pleaded mentally,_ Don't make me see them again, don't make me see…her._

I was back in the desert. The God forsaken desert that I cursed with every fiber of my being. I knew where I was, the uncivilized deserts of northern Arizona. I knew when this was, right after Zeus threw my brothers and I off that plane and across the country. And I knew who it was that would be coming off the desert in front of me on a donkey.

I could feel the burning in my throat, the dryness that ached for water that I didn't have. I pulled out my Bible and found a verse that could help me. I found a good sized rock and stick and read, "Exodus 17:6" I could barely hear myself due to my raspy, dry throat, "_Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for you to drink." _I then hit the rock and a crack appeared and water flowed.

I was still in the desert walking aimlessly, and I saw her. An elderly woman on a donkey coming towards me out of the desert. She helped me on the donkey and we rode away.

I'm in a hut, the walls of dried mud and the ceiling of wood and leaves. The woman was wiping the dried sand from my face with a wet towel.

I walk out into a little village. A Native American reservation. Families everywhere with kids playing and people talking. _All to disappear, and all soon to be dead._ I thought. I could see the love between these people, though they come from different bloodlines, they are all one family.

I meet a young girl, about my age and curious about me and where I'm from. She is beautiful, long black hair, warm brown eyes, soft tan skin, and she is wearing native clothing and jewelry. I begin to talk with her, and we get along instantly.

Days later, I see myself with her in the middle of the night watching the full moon in the desert. It is there that we admit to our feelings and have our first kiss. I know that she is the one I love, I didn't have to be a child of Eros to figure it out.

Weeks pass and our relationship strengthens, the village is upset with her being in love with an outsider, but they eventually trust me.

Months fly by in seconds, our love for each other grows and we even get a home together.

Then the night comes, as it always does in the dreams. Every night and every dream I have shows this moment.

FIRE! The houses of the village are all aflame. The villagers scramble to save their homes, but they are more afraid of what started them, the creature in the sky.

I am in the middle of the village and I look up and see the creature that I curse most in this world, and I'm not even sure what it is. At first I couldn't see it as it kept setting the village on fire, it was masked by the darkness. But as the sun began to rise, I saw it. I would have said it was a phoenix, but this creature burned with a black fire, as if the flames were made from shadows and darkness. Once it set the whole village on fire, it left, and everyone was stuck outside, for they had nowhere else to go. Then they came.

I wasn't sure how they found me, or how they all appeared at once, but the village became filled with monsters. Harpies, hellhounds, giants, dracanae, empousai, giant snakes and scorpions, and hundreds of others. I thought it had been Zeus trying to kill me, but I sensed something older and more powerful, the exact same thing that had killed my mother.

I ran across the village, killing as many monsters as I could, trying to save the villagers but mostly to find the girl I loved. But there were just too many, and the people were all dying, but then I heard her scream. I ran for her and found a hellhound tearing at her throat. Her blood flowed through the dirt and sand under my feet. Her once beautiful eyes staring off into the void.

Such anger filled me, such raw and pure furiosity. I felt a power surge through my entire being as my skin began to burn and glow. And then the flash of light that I feared and a piercing screech from above.

"MATTHEW!" Steven yelled, shaking me from my sleep.

I found myself back at the Mountain Snake Motel.

"Was it the dream again?" Jacob asked, worry plainly shown across his face.

I found myself lying on the floor drenched in sweat, and my brothers both kneeling beside me hoping I was okay. This shouldn't be happening, I am the eldest brother, I'm supposed to make sure that they are okay, not the other way around.

"Yeah it was." I said, I looked at the burning feeling on my left hand. I saw the four claw marks and the yellow glow slowly dissipating along them. "I'm fine." I told them unconvinsingly. "Go back to bed, it'll be fine."

They reluctantly went back to sleep. I sat back on the couch.

Another night of no sleep, some _rest_ stop this was.


	15. Salted Bacon?

I don't own Percy Jackson, or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

I woke up to find myself in both the most unexpected and most wonderful spot in the world: in Annabeth's arms. Let me explain.

Last night, Annabeth had asked me to stay with her, after she had the nightmare, and then I was lying next to her, on top of the sheets stroking her hair. She talked in her sleep, just like me. She kept talking about Matthew, fire, a bird, and this burst light. Eventually I fell asleep, though I promised not to in case the nightmare came back.

So, I wake up the next morning, and while Annabeth didn't seem to have had any nightmares since the first, she didn't seem to realize how she was positioned at the moment while she was still sleeping. You see, somehow, when we were asleep, our arms wrapped around each other. My arms were around her waist; one somehow being between her and the bed. And her arms were around my neck and were locked together so I couldn't pull away. Not only that, but there was about 1 inch of space between us. I was still on top of the covers, and she beneath. I could feel her breath as it touched my lips. I found my face burning red, and I wouldn't be surprised if Annabeth could feel the heat from my face. I tried to slide away from her, but her arms wrapped around my neck tighter, pulling me closer to her, and her eyes squeezed even tighter. "No," she mumbled, "Please, please don't leave me alone."

I stopped trying to squirm away from her, and I touched my forehead to hers. "I would never leave you Annabeth."

Annabeth's eyes began to open slowly as she began to wake up. I started becoming nervous, how would I explain this to her.

Her eyes opened completely, and took in how I was less than an inch from face as if was nothing. She looked down to see my arms around her waist, and she looked up with a small grin on her face. "Good morning, Seaweed Brain." She said quietly, hints of sleep still in her voice.

"Morning Wise Girl." I replied, trying to stay calm. My nerves were calming down now that I saw that she wasn't disturbed or angry at our positions. But I was still nervous as to what to do now. "Sleep well?" I said trying for small talk.

"Yes," She answered, "Much better with you next to me."

Without control of my own body, my arms seemed to pull her closer to me so that only the bed sheets prevented us from touching.

"Glad I could help." I said quietly. For some reason, Annabeth's eyes and lips seemed extremely fascinating, and I couldn't decide which to look at. I could feel our faces coming slowly closer to each other. Annabeth's arms tightening around my neck and pulling me closer and I was still had my arms around her.

I could see her start to close her eyes as she tilted her head to the right, and I began to do the same. I could feel her shiver under the covers from nerves, that made me feel better that I wasn't the only nervous one here.

I could barely feel the edges of our lips touch…

BAM! BAM! BAM! "WAKE UP!"

"A-A-A-H-H-H!" Annabeth screamed at the booming hitting the door. She shot up into a sitting position and I rolled right off of the bed and onto the floor.

"PERCY! ANNABETH!" I could hear Thalia scream from the other side of the door, "It's 10:30 already! Wake up!" I heard her stomp away.

"Meet us in the Dining Hall for breakfast." I heard Jacob say from the other side of the door as he passed our room.

Annabeth was still in the bed and I was now standing in the middle of the room in my pajamas. Both of our faces were red as tomatoes, and we weren't saying anything. Annabeth stood up and began to get dressed. I turned my gaze to the opposite side of the room to give her her privacy and began to change myself. We both walked down to the Dining Hall in silence, but when we got to the door, Annabeth grabbed the handle but then stopped and turned to me.

"About what happened," she began, "Or I guess, what _was_ going to happen. Let's just keep it to ourselves for now."

"Sure." I said, but I couldn't help but grin a little at the memory of what had almost happened. And she began to smile a little as well.

We walked into the hall and it was pretty ordinary for a hotel in New York, but for a tiny town like this one, this had to have been majestic. It had a bunch of square or rectangular tables with fancy napkins and silverware. There was a breakfast buffet over on the left wall. The floor was of wooden tiles. And in the back of the hall, the floor was raised and there was a bunch of instruments as if for a lounge band. I could see Matthew playing a grand piano even as we walked to the table where the others were. It all seemed nice and cozy, except for the waitresses there who kept giving us evil stares.

"Morning you two," Nico said as we walked up, "What took you so long to get here?" He raised an eyebrow as if knowing we did something…private.

"Slept in," I heard Annabeth say as I went to get food for me and her. I knew what her favorite breakfast was, and I was sure to surprise her when I got it for her.

The buffet had a good set-up, a lot of options to choose from. But then I heard a new song being played and I remembered that Matt was playing. I listened as I was getting the food and the song sounded familiar…

Matt,

"I set out on a narrow way many years ago.  
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road.  
But I got lost a time or two,  
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through.  
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you.

Every long lost dream led me to where you are.  
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars.  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms.  
This much I know is true.  
That God blessed the broken road,  
That led me straight to you.

I think about the years I spent just passing through.  
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you.  
But you just smile and take my hand,  
You've been there you understand.  
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true.

Every long lost dream led me to where you are.  
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars.  
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms.  
This much I know is true.  
That God blessed the broken road,  
That led me straight to you.

Now I'm just rolling home.  
Into my lover's arms.  
This much I know is true.  
That God blessed the broken road.  
That led me straight to you.

That God blessed the broken road…  
That led me straight…

To you."

I walked back to the table as the crowd applauded, but Matt looked like he was sad.

I sat down at the table and handed Annabeth her plate, much to her surprise, "Two fried eggs over-easy, two sausage links extra crispy, wheat toast with strawberry jam, and pancakes with only butter." She had a look that showed that she was impressed.

"And for you," she began, "Three scrambled eggs with cheese and pepper, white toast with only butter, cantaloupe, pancakes with syrup, and turkey bacon with salt on them."

All I could do was grin, she was dead-on. As I sat down, I saw some of the waitresses whispering while pointing at us. I quickly forgot about it.

"Hey," I asked towards Jacob and Steven, who looked a little worried as they watched Matthew walk over to us as people complimented him and forced money into his hands as tips. "Why did Matt look kinda sad when he played that song?" That got Nico, Thalia, and Annabeth interested, they must not have noticed.

"He's sad because that's _her_ song." Jacob said, "He only plays that song when he has the dream." There suddenly was a stomp and the table shook as Jacob winced in pain. Steven looked stiff as a board, but his face showed anger.

"Did you hurt your foot Jacob?" Steven asked his brother, and only getting an evil look as a response, "Maybe you should go walk it off." Jacob then left the table, limping on his left foot.

"Something else that you don't want us to hear?" Thalia asked.

"Well…" Steven began.

"That's the favorite song of the girl I loved." Matthew stated as he suddenly popped up behind us. His face looked completely emotionless as he sat down at the table. "The first time she heard that song, she fell in love with it."

"Who is this girl?" Nico asked, curiosity showing on his face.

"Wait," Annabeth said, a look on her face of confusion, "You said '_loved'_, past tense."

"Yes," Matt said sitting down, "She died."

We all fell silent at the table.

"I know that you noticed how I can make people fall in love," Matt said, directing it at Thalia, Nico, Annabeth, and I. "Eros is the god of love of the body, the strongest form of love. Aphrodite his mother is the god of all love, but no specific type. But by being a child of love, there is a drawback, a flaw."

I stole a glance at Annabeth, remembering what she said about demigods having fatal flaws.

"I am a child of love, meaning that I can see the love between others; I can see into the depths of their hearts. There are those that can truly be inspirational, true love, but even then, there are too many horrible things that can come from it. I can see the ruin in one's heart from a destroyed love, and abandoned love, a fake love, and lost love. And the love I see in another's heart affects my own. When I landed in Arizona, I was taken in my a Native American village. It was there that I met Singing Bird. The love that was between us was like nothing I ever felt before. And when I lost her, when I lost my one love…I lost everything."

We sat and listened and were amazed by this story, I never knew this about children of Eros. It reminded me of what Jacob said with Apollo's children.

"But there was some compensation for me though," Matt started, but he went rigged. A scared look appeared over his face. "We have to go." He said quickly.

"Our weapons are still in the room." Steven said as he started to get up, but he froze, and I could see why.

Our table was surrounded by the waitresses, but there was something wrong with them. First, they were making hissing noises. Second, their skin had a weird green tint to it. And lastly, their eyes were yellow with black slits as pupils.

"Welcome to our mountain home demigods-s-s-s-s-s." One of the waitresses said, "I hope you are enjoying your s-s-s-s-stay at the Mountain S-S-S-S-Snake Motel."

_Dracanae!_ I thought. I slowly moved my hand towards my pocket to get Riptide, but one of the waitresses grabbed my arm.

"I don't think s-s-s-so," She said. "Don't want you to mess up the scene we have the Mist making for us now."

I looked around and saw a shimmer in air around our table, they were hiding what was happening.

"Now," Another dracanae said, "Time to for you demigods to die." Then she froze. I could hear something that made me relieved, scared, and just confused…

"The moment I wake up…"

Jacob POV – Five minutes earlier

I could see the waitresses moving in on my brothers and the others, and I guessed that they were monsters. I thought that I should go get my guitar, but I could take to long and they'll attack. For some reason, it was getting harder to see them, like something was trying to make me look away from them.

I leaned against the outside wall, thinking of what to do.

"I need my guitar," But I couldn't risk leaving. "Wait, I don't need my guitar… I need an instrument." So I began moving along the wall, making sure that the monsters didn't attack. They had changed to their true form now: green scaled skin, two snake legs, and very VERY sharp claws. Finally I reached it, the piano. But what now?

"I need a song," I whispered. No noticed me by the piano yet, but they would soon. I looked back at our table, but something caught my eye. I could see a man eating lobster at a nearby table. Lobster, lobster, lobster...there was a song that played at a diner with lobsters. No not lobsters, lobster claws. Lobster claw gloves. I knew what to do.

I sat at the piano, and barely touched my fingers to the keys. I thought of the song, played it in my head, and then saw that music as a visible energy. I passed that energy into the piano. I could see the mist surround the piano. Then I hit the notes, and the color of the music came with it.** [Jacob will sing everything that is underlined]**

"The moment I wake up,

Before I put on my make-up…"

"I say a little prayer for you!" One of the dracanae sang, the others shied away from her as they all looked confused.

"While combing my hair now,

And wondering what dress to wear now…"

"I say a little prayer for you-u-u!" All of the dracanae send in unison, each had a look of horror their face.

I thought I could do more so I had my brothers and the demigods from the Camp sing along too. All of the demigods and dracanae sing,

"Forever, and ever, you'll stay in my heart and I will love you.

Forever, and ever, we never will part. Oh, how I love you.

Together, forever, that's how it must be. To live without you,

Would only mean heartbreak for me."

Then I played a little solo, I could see every person in the diner stare at us as if we were crazy. Then I sang, as I got another idea.

"I run for the bus dear,

While riding I think of us dear…"

"I say a little prayer for you!" The dracanae sang again. I made the color and the power of the music surround the monsters. I could see Matthew chanting under his breath, meaning he knew what I was doing. I then had Percy sing this part to Annabeth, while holding her hands.

"At work I just take time,

And all through my coffee break time…"

"I say a little prayer for you!" The dracanae sang. Annabeth looked at Percy like he was crazy, but went with it. He looked happy.

I then had everyone in the entire breakfast hall sing the chorus,

"Forever, and ever, you'll stay in my heart and I will love you.

Forever, and ever, we never will part. Oh, how I love you.

Together, forever, that's how it must be. To live without you,

Would only mean heartbreak for me."

They all looked shocked, but seemed to be having a good time. I was making the Mist and the music condense around the monsters. Their skin was turning brown instead of green. I made Percy lean in to Annabeth and the monsters surround them like back-up singers. Percy sang,

"My darling believe me..."

Dracanae: "Believe him."

"For me there is no-o one but you,

Please love me too…"

Dracanae: "Answer his prayer."

"And I'm in love with you…"

Dracanae: "Answer his prayer no babe."

"Answer my prayers babe."

Dracanae: "Answer his prayers!"

"And say you love me too!"

The Mist and music made the dracanae glow like bright lights, but the diner didn't care as they clapped to the music they sang,

"Forever, and ever, you'll stay in my heart and I will love you.

Forever, and ever, we never will part. Oh, how I love you.

Together, forever, that's how it must be. To live without you,

Would only mean heartbreak for me.

O-o-o-h-h-h-h."

The light around the dracanae vanished and left seven normal looking teenagers looking around confused and amazed, but not as amazed as the demigods, except my brothers. The entire diner stood to applaud. I then played a few bars of _Walking In Memphis_ so that I could use the Mist to erase the diner's memories and edit the memories of the dracanae-now-humans.

I ran to the table. The Camp kids were staring dumb-founded as Matt began talking to the teenage girls and instructing them on what to do. Steven walked up and patted me on the back.

"Good job bro," He said with a smile, "Thanks for the save. And sorry about your foot." He glanced at the Camp kids, still frozen, "Why don't you go get the weapons while I go tell them what happened."

I ran off gladly, the music had taken up so much of my energy that I don't think I could have explained anything.

I ran to our rooms, grabbed all our backpacks and threw them into the bus. I went back to get my brothers' weapons when I saw a box by my guitar. It had a simple note on it:

_For a musical genius and a true son and brother…_

_A._

I opened the box and smiled, knowing what it was for.

Thalia POV

We stared at Matthew and Steven in awe at what they just told us. The girls who had been dracanae had walked away and Jacob had gone to load our sstuff into the bus.

"Hold on," I said, "Let me get this straight, Jacob was able to use the piano's music to unlock the dark energy that makes up the dracanae?"

"Yep" Steven said.

"And Matt was said a prayer to turn the 'evil energy' into 'good energy'?" Percy asked.

"Correct." Matt said, bluntly.

"Then Jacob used the music to seal the energy back into the dracanae?" Nico asked in a shocked tone.

"Yes" Steven said like he was bored.

"And because a pure, good spirit can not exist in an evil being," Annabeth said methodically, _as if _she actually understood all this, "the dracanaes' bodies turned into humans and you used the Mist to make them think they were human?"

"Bingo." Steven said as if it was obvious.

"But that's IMPOSSIBLE!" Percy shouted.

"Then how did we just do it?" Matt said as Jacob came running back. Percy stood there trying to come up with and argument as Jacob handed out his brothers' hammer and Bible. Jacob's guitar was on his back, but he also had an orange messenger bag hanging by his side; it had something in it. Matt looked at it and frowned.

"We gotta go right now." Jacob said. His voice sounded giddy and nervous at the same time. "They're right beyond the tree line."

We all ran for the bus, the three brothers leading the way.

"What's in the trees?" Nico yelled up, he, Percy, and Annabeth were looking to see. But I could. Years of hunting with Lady Artemis had honed my hunting abilities and the power of being a Hunter enhanced my senses. But still, what I saw in the forest wasn't good.

"The dracanae weren't the only reptiles to live by the Mountain Snake Motel." Matt said as we got to the bus. Percy clicked his pen into his sword, Annabeth pulled her dagger, Nico grabbed his Stygian sword, and I strung my bow and arrows to my back and pulled out my spear.

"We can't drive," Steven commented, he was looking over the hood of the bus at the forest just outside of the parking lot. "They won't attack while we're near humans, so they'll wait until we drive away; then attack."

"We'll have to fight them then." Jacob said, he still had a smile on his face, and he was jumping around. I was getting scared, and this idiot was getting exited?

"Why are you so happy?" Annabeth asked Jacob.

"It's always been his dream to kill to kill the Hydra." Matt said nonchalantly as he turned his Bible into his tonfas.

"The Hydra's out there!" Percy somewhat yelled in horror. I was worried, yes, but he was taking it a little far.

"That's not all." Steven said.

"What else?" Annabeth said, nervousness clearly in her voice. Matt answered her.

"We are facing a 600 foot long Amphisbaena and the Hydra which has…" Matt looked around the bus at the forest where normally no one could see anything, and where even I was having trouble seeing exact details, and pulled back to finish saying, "…which has 27 heads now. No big deal." His slid his blades together to make a slicing sound.

Jacob and Steven glanced at each other and smiled.

Jacob then said, "This, is going to be _fun_."


	16. Through The Woods We Go

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other references made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

We were officially screwed. A 27 headed Hydra and an Amphis-whatever that was 600 feet long were waiting to kill us and we had no way to escape.

I looked at Annabeth, both out of worry for her safety and fear that we might die. This feeling always comes to me whenever I'm about to fight, but I usually keep them back and put up a tough front. But as things have been going lately, I can't really stay that courageous with everything that's been coming after us.

I looked and saw that Thalia and Nico were nervous too. Jacob and Steven were somewhat giddy. _These guys really like fighting monsters_. I thought. But Matthew had his eyes closed and his hands on his Bible, like he was saying a prayer.

"On my mark," Matt said with his head still down and his eyes closed, "We run straight at them. Me and Steven will go for the Amphisbaena, and Jacob, you and the others go for the Hydra."

Jacob had been pulling things out of the orange messenger bag. He now had on some flame designed, fingerless gloves, a fedora hat with a flaming sun and cross design, sunglasses with arrow symbols on them, and he was holding a guitar pick that had fire images on it.

"Where did you get that stuff?" Nico asked.

"They're gifts from my dad." Jacob said with a nervous glance at Matt, who had a partially annoyed looked on his face.

"Let's go!" Steven yelled.

Steven and Matt ran out from the back of the bus and ran to the right; Jacob, Annabeth, Thalia, Nico, and I ran out from the front and ran to the left. As we ran closer to the forest I could hear a hissing sound get louder and louder and I could tell that what we were going for was big.

Once we got into the forest, we ran 60 meters before we were all on the edge of a huge clearing in the forest. And I figured out what an amphisbaena is.

The Hydra hadn't changed much since I last saw it, except for having more heads. Its tail, body, and necks were covered in purple-brown scales with a gooey gloss to it, and the heads had the spined fins surrounding it like picture frames with messed-up yellow teeth and green eyes. The amphisbaena was different. It was a giant 3-meter thick and 600 foot long, dark green on top and yellow on bottom double headed snake. And it wasn't that it had two heads at one end, but on head at each end, and they both looked like the head of cobras, but I think this snake is a little more dangerous. But the scariest part about these two creatures was that they were staring directly at me, Thalia, and Nico, and they looked determined to kill us.

"Remember the plan." Matt said. He and Steven began moving to the right slowly while Jacob moved to the left.

"Wait." Nico whispered, stopping the brothers. "What do we do?"

"You will do nothing." Matthew said without taking his eyes off of the amphisbaena, which was looking at me with one head and Nico with the other. "They are focused on you three, I can guess that they were sent to kill you three specifically. If my brothers and I go after them, they won't know what to suspect. Just don't use your powers." He said the last bit while giving us a scolding look.

"Matt! They're moving." Steven said. The Hydra and amphisbaena were moving towards me, Thalia, Nico and Annabeth and completely ignoring Steven and Matt. I grabbed onto Annabeth protectively.

"Separate them!" Matt yelled. Steven lifted his hammer and pointed it at the amphisbaena. The head of the hammer suddenly turned black and smoke leaked off of it. Then a wall of darkness shot up from the ground cutting off our vision of the amphisbaena, Matthew, and Steven.

"What happened?" Thalia said while staring at the wall that reached so high that it looked like half of the sky was gone and so wide that it cut through the entire clearing and into the forest.

"Steven used Erebos's power of shadows to cut off the amphisbaena from us. Nothing will be able to get through that wall as long as it stands." Jacob said a little worried.

"Will Steven and Matt be okay?" I asked, worried for Jacob's family as well.

"Hopefully," Jacob said sadly.

"Guys," Annabeth said quietly, "I don't wish to alarm you, but the Hydra is still coming at us.

I turned and found the Hydra just a few paces from reaching us. Its 27 heads were all moving in different directions but they each were staring at either Nico, Thalia, or me.

"When I say," Jacob said with a strong voice, "Run into the forest on the left, and keep running until we hit another clearing."

We all nodded approval, I couldn't believe I was trusting my safety to this kid.

"NOW!" Jacob yelled, and we all rushed into the trees, with the Hydra coming up behind us.

It didn't take long to find another clearing.

The Hydra had fallen behind trying to chase us through the trees. The clearing was smaller than the last one. We ran to the opposite end and Jacob moved us into the trees and went out to meet the Hydra.

The Hydra stopped in the center of the clearing and Jacob stood half-way between it and us on the edge of the clearing. Several of the Hydra's heads looked over Jacob at us, and the other heads stared at Jacob as an annoyance in its way.

Suddenly, a calm quiet settled over the clearing. There wasn't a sound except for the wind moving through the trees.

Jacob stared down the Hydra while holding his guitar. Then he played a single low note. The sound of it resonated through the clearing and began to get louder. As the sound spread, the colored mist came off of the guitar and began to surround us. The mist was a light violet color and it began to form a closed dome all around us, encompassing the entire clearing and blocking out the rest of the forest. The Hydra took a few steps back as its heads swerved around trying to figure out what was happening. Its tail swished nervously around. The heads then looked at Jacob again. Something happened then. The flames on the fingerless gloves began to glow like real fire, the arrow on the glasses glowed red, and the symbols on the hat glowed as well.

"What's happening?" I whispered.

"A blessing from Apollo," Annabeth whispered back.

Jacob began playing a beat. As he played it, the colors of the dome began to change. With every note a new color streaked across the dome, there was red, orange, yellow, and dark purples. Each color seemed to match the note that was played with it.

Jacob continued playing the beat as the Hydra advanced on him. I recognized the beat as "Viva La Vida". Just then a drum beat could be heard. The Hydra turned a few of its heads to the left to find the source and found something even I couldn't comprehend. A second Jacob was standing there playing on a bass drum. A violin could be heard then, and the Hydra locked on to a third Jacob standing behind it playing the instrument. More Jacob's appeared, each playing a different instrument and adding their music to the song. Jacob had turned himself into a complete orchestra. With every instrument's music the colors of the dome kept changing, like a rainbow in a blender. The Hydra didn't know what to do, its heads kept looking from one Jacob to the next.

One of the Hydra's heads shot out to bite one of the Jacobs playing a cello. But as the Hydra's mouth closed, Jacob puffed into smoke and reappeared in another area of the dome's border. The Hydra kept attacking Jacobs, but only to meet the same ending. At one point all 27 of the heads attacked a different Jacob but they just disappeared and reappeared.

Once Jacob began to sing, the colors in the air began to brighten up. As a head shot forward to strike one of the keyboard players a streak of light blue on the dome glowed brightly then shot off of the dome in a beam that cut right through the neck and singed the end still attached to the body. The neck then receded back into the body but no heads grew out of it. This continued happening for a while. Whenever a head shot for one of the Jacobs, a colored beam of light burned of the head like a laser. But the Hydra got smart. When it jumped for drummer, and the beam came for its neck, it bent its neck so it only got cut half way. The head fell off, but the remaining part of the neck that wasn't singed, regrew another head. To fix this Jacob had the beams fire but continue so that it was a solid and constant laser that then moved to cut off the head.

This continued happening until only ten heads remained. These heads weren't attacking, they were looking to find the real Jacob before attacking. Then, all the Jacob's raised their heads to do the chant in the song. The sound of their voices began to resonate in the dome and actually caused the ground to shake. The Hydra was even shaking as if the sound hurt its ears. Whenever it raised one of its heads, a Jacob would shoot a beam from their instrument and singe off the head. Only 4 heads remained then.

As the song was ending, the other Jacobs disappeared. The dome of light began to vanish as the music died down, and all the light began to gather towards the one Jacob left playing the electric guitar. The Hydra began to move in on him. I wanted to run up to help, but Thalia held me back. Jacob began to glow as all the light engulfed him.

The Hydra lunged at Jacob with its four mouths open to gobble him up. Jacob spun once on the spot and stopped with the guitar head pointing at the Hydra. And as he played the final note, all the light shot out of the guitar in a single gigantic blast of light and heat that engulfed the entire body of the Hydra. The blast was so powerful, all of us hiding in the trees were pushed back.

When we got up to look, Jacob was walking toward us with a smile on his face. The ground was covered in the yellow color of sulfur.

"That was," Nico began, "interesting?"

We stood there awhile waiting for Matt and Steven.

Eventually they came through the trees, laughing their heads off.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"We killed the Amphisbaena by making it get tied up in the trees." Steven said between laughs.

"Its heads were in a bow knot." Matt was barely able to say.

"Wow." Nico said in the back, "Quite a movie there."

"I know!" Matt said before tipping over.

"Is he okay?" Percy asked Jacob.

"He has a bit of a 'laughing disorder', as we call it." Jacob replied

Eventually we were ready to go.

"So what's going to happen next I wonder?" Percy joked.

The ground then began to shake.

"Idiot." Thalia said as she had her spear out and ready to fight. I have to admit I was upset at Percy jinxing us.

We formed a circle, all of us ready to attack. The ground began to shake more violently with cracks opening up and moving towards us.

"I hope I'm wrong." I heard Matt whisper to Steven.

"What do you think?" I asked.

Before he could answer, the ground in the center of our circle exploded and sent us all flying. And crashing.

When the dust cleared we saw an incredible sight. A cone of dirt and rocks, about 7 feet high, was pertruding from the ground. Cracks began to form and light shined out of them. The cone fell away and there stood one of the most GORGEOUS men I have ever seen. My jaw was hanging, and Thalia, who was on the ground next to me, was doing the same. His skin was perfectlt tanned like a model. His arms were thick with muscles. His face was more perfect than Da Vinci and Michealangelo could make working together, on their best day. His very presence radiated power and strength. He had dark brown hair that hung down to his broad shoulders, it was styled in just the perfect way. When he grinned at us, showing his perfect teeth, I was swooning.

He began walking towards me and Thalia. Out of shock we both stood up, but didn't move. He was about 10 feet from us when we both were grabbed and pushed back. Percy was holding me behind him as he took a defensive stance with his sword. I saw Nico blocking him from Thalia, and he looked like he was about to attack the oncomer.

"You okay?" I heard Percy whisper to me, his voice filled with worry. And I think a little bit of jealousy.

"Yeah." I replied. Then it hit me, what I just did. I was going googely-eyed over some random person who was probably here to kill us, and I did it in front of Percy. I felt so lousy; I swore I would apologize to Percy later and make it up to him. If we ever got a chance when no one was trying to kill us.

"Hello ladies." The strange man said in a rather sexy voice. I then noticed that he was wearing light-weight green armor that seemed to be made of stone.

"Greetings Oreios. How's the weather up there?" Jacob called out.

I looked and saw the three brothers standing casually but posed in a way that said they were ready to fight. Steven smacked Jacob in the head.

"That's the only thing you thought of to say?" Steven said in a disappointed way.

"It might not be the best idea to undermine ourselves in front of the enemy." Matt said scoldingly to his brothers.

"Not the best idea, no." The guy said. Wait...

"You're Oreios?" I called from behind Percy, whom I was actually kinda snuggling up to becuase I was... I don't actually know why I was doing it. I naturally feel safe around him, and in a time of anxiety, I apparently cuddled up to him.

"That I am." Oreios said.

"I know you." Percy said, "You're one of the Ourea, the first elemental beings born of Gaea. You're the mountain deity that ruled over Mount Othrys."

I stared at him with shock. Percy never knew anything about mythology. Hmmm...

"That I am as well. And Now that we've gone through the formalities," He raised his hands and there was a flash of light that left a wicked looking pole axe in Oreios's hands.

He turned on the spot and ran at Nico and Thalia at an incredible speed. Before either of them could react Oreios was swinging his axe and was about to cut them in half.

Right as the blade of the axe would have touched them, Steven appeared and stopped the axe on the spot. After a moment of silence, a giant gust of wind smacked into them and almost knocked them over.

"It takes quite a strong person to stop an attack from a mountain." Oreios said, impressed, "Who trained you?"

Jacob chuckled, "You mean _what_ trai..."

"How did you find us?" Matt quickly interupted. '_What' trained them?_ I thought. "None of them used their powers?"

"We don't need them to use their powers to find them. We can always sense them; their powers just make it easier to lock-on to them."

"Well," Matt said as he got back into a fighting position, "Since we know your intentions, we are forced to dispatch you and continue on our way."

"How about I just make this end quickly?" Oreios finished his statement by touching the blade of the axe to the ground. Suddenly the ground beneath all of us shooke. The ground rose up and trapped us in giant ant hills. Our weapons were thrown out of the dirt and onto the ground.

"Now I can finish this, and we can go on with our plans without any more interuptions." Oreios walked back to Thalia and Nico who were trying to wiggle themselves out, but not getting anywhere.

"And what plans would those be?" Matt asked calmly, he wasn't even trying to break free. It was like he didn't care that Oreios was going to kill the others, and I was trying to get out to protect Percy. I know he's impervious, but with the power these elementals have been showing, I won't leave it to chance.

"Why to destroy humanity and take back the planet." Oreios said calmly, actually he said said it a bit cheerfully. "This planet was originally ours before the gods and you humans."

"Of course, and how do we all fit in to that plan?" Matt said.

"Well we first need to kill the three born of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. And we only want to kill you and your brothers because we don't care for you and you're trying to stop us." He said with a grin. "Also because the head honcho doesn't like you three. It's all quite simple really."

"Quite." Matt said with a more stern voice. "But we'd like to live and perhaps take down this head honcho ourselves, because we don't like him either. So let's, how did you say it. 'finsh this'?"

Suddenly Jacob screamed, well it wasn't so much a scream, it was more like the sound an opera singer makes when he's singing a really loud and goes, and this is what Jacob was yelling, "L-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!"

The dirt holding Jacob splintered and light shined through the cracks until the whole pile exploded. Oreios got thrown back and Jacob rushed forward and snatched up his guitar. He sent a wave of light at us which shattered the dirt holding us; allowing us to break free and grab our weapons.

Oreios was standing again with his giant axe ready. I stepped forward but Jacob threw up his hand to stop me.

"He's mine." Jacob said slowly as he put the sunglasses Apollo gave him. A smile formed on his face and he rushed forward.


	17. RV In NV

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other reference made or thought made.

* * *

Jacob ran at Oreios at full speed. His new gear from Apollo began glowing with an orange aura as well as the flames on his guitar coming to life once again. Oreios, no longer taking the trio as simple demigod fighters, exercised more caution as he prepared to face this oncoming challenge.

Just before Jacob reached Oreios, he flicked his fingers across the strings and shot a glowing orange sphere of light at Oreios. Oreios swung his giant green axe as if it were lighter than air to cut the sphere in half, but the sphere exploded on contact. Oreios, unfazed by the explosion, swung his axe around himself to bring it at Jacob. Jacob jumped onto the axe and then jumped off the axe to get above Oreios. Above him, Jacob played a few quick notes to send five red waves of light at Oreios. But Oreios effortlessly maneuvered the axe to cut the waves in half one by one. On making impact with the ground, the red light sent up flames that scorched the ground.

Jacob landed a few feet from Oreios, and he slowly turned to face him. The other demigods stood off to a distance under the watch of Jacob's brothers who refused to allow any of the others to interfere.

The glow around Jacob's guitar brightened for a moment so that none could look at it directly. When the glow dimmed, the guitar had changed to have a headstock with three protruding blades going from the top and sides and the fret board now was made out of smooth steel. Jacob had turned his musical instrument into a physical combat weapon. Oreios raised an eyebrow to this change as if he was intrigued.

Jacob rushed Oreios again, but this time he went all out in his assault. Jacob moved his way all around Oreios. Jacob jumped in and swung his guitar to try and cut and then stab Oreios with the bladed headstock, but Oreios blocked the cut with the flat end of the axe and when Jacob tried to stab him he countered by trying to cut the guitar with his axe, but the metal crashed into each other and didn't break. Though the metal of the guitar was strong enough to withstand his attack, Oreios knew he had the greater muscle strength. So he shoved the axe forward and pushed Jacob backwards, he lost his footing and fell to the ground. Oreios seized the opportunity; he jumped in the air and swung to bring the axe down on Jacob. Jacob quickly turned and fired a sonic blast at the axe, the force knocked it from its course and the blade came down a mere inches from Jacob's head.

Jacob rolled away and got back on his feet as Oreios came at him swing the axe like a kung-fu fighter in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Jacob had to admit that he was impressed by how easily Oreios to maneuver the giant, and probably very heavy, weapon. Jacob was able to block every swing by using the hardened fret board or the headstock. When he could, Jacob used his agility, which was far more trained then his brothers', to get in close to Oreios, and he would hit a musical note to try and cut Oreios.

Jacob had found out the secrets to the musical combat after months of constant practice. He had learned that each color is connected to the letter note that is played, and the higher the octave of the note, the lighter the color, and the opposite with lower octave notes. He also found that each note had certain powers of their own: red lights created fire, orange made explosions, blue could make electricity, and others. With these items Apollo had sent him, the power of the music grew stronger and the instrument gained power itself. The bladed headstock and metallic board had simply been an idea in his head before the guitar changed itself so that it could be used for close combat. Now Jacob could fight strong enough to protect his brothers just as much as they had protected him over the years.

Jacob tried to use the guitar to land a blow to Oreios, but he wasn't able to get of his attacks past Oreios's defense. Jacob decided he'd have to fight this the usual way, with the power of the music, and he had a particular piece in mind to play.

Jacob began playing the lead guitar solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird. Every note sent beams and waves of colored light at Oreios, and he had a bit of difficulty keeping up with Jacob's attacks. As the notes got faster and closer together, Jacob was able to blend the attacks together, making three notes forming a single, stronger attack which knocked Oreios off his feet and made him fall flat on his back. Taking the opportunity, Jacob fired more explosive orbs at Oreios. Oreios quickly rolled away from the attack

Jacob new the crescendo of the song was coming and that he was going to have to make his big move during it to gain an advantage with the strengthened music. Jacob's hesitation as this thought gave Oreios enough time to send him a surprise attack. Oreios punched the ground with enough force that all the trees began to shake. Suddenly, spikes of dirt and stone began popping out of the ground and aiming themselves at Jacob. Jacob had to scramble around to avoid being impaled; he began using the music to cut down the spikes to save himself. Oreios then came at Jacob, his axe now radiating with a greenish-brown glow giving off the feeling that this blade could cut through a mountain with ease if it wanted to.

Just as the crescendo began, Jacob fired a massive beam of blue electrical energy from the headstock and aimed it at Oreios. Oreios, likewise, swung his axe straight down, meeting the energy blast and literally cutting the light in half. Jacob's and Oreios's attacks were releasing enough energy that the entire forest began to tremor, and the ground at their feet began to crack, but neither backed off on their attack nor showed signs of weakening.

An idea shot through Jacob's mind that made him believe that he could finish this once and for all. Focusing hard on his attack on Oreios, he brought forth from his mind the drum playing during the crescendo. Jacob used the drums to transfer his energy into the ground and through the cracks. An orange glow began to rise from the ground as Oreios began pushing himself closer to Jacob, with his axe still cutting the blue beam in two.

_This is it!_ Thought Jacob.

The drum solo was coming to its end, and just as it played the last beat, Jacob released the built up energy beneath the ground. The ground went up in a massive explosion, sending flashes of orange light and giant chunks of earth and rock everywhere. The blast shot us over 100 ft. up. _Maybe that was a bit much._ Jacob thought as he stared at the ground so far below him. He looked for Oreios and found him flailing in the air; apparently he had a fear of heights. Jacob saw his giant axe a few feet away from him. Jacob shot a sonic blast to push him towards a rock falling near him. He planted his feet on the rock and jumped off of it and launched himself towards the axe. Jacob hopped off of multiple rocks and finally got hold of the axe, and it was extremely heavy even in free-fall. They were getting closer to the ground; Jacob was running out of time. Dragging the axe behind him as he hopped off of more rocks, Jacob positioned himself right over Oreios, who wasn't paying attention to anything else around him except that he was falling. A rock began to come in-between Jacob over Oreios. Jacob played some notes and released some yellow light at the rock, and as it got close the beams of light connected to make a net that encased the rock and diced it into tiny pieces. They were about to land, Jacob had to do this perfectly or get himself killed.

Oreios reached the ground first, he landed on his feet and dug a 4 ft. deep crater around him, but he was otherwise unharmed. Jacob was in position, the axe was in his right hand and pointing straight up, and his left hand was over the guitar strings ready to move the pick across the strings. Oreios lifted his head as if to cheer himself for surviving; that was until he saw Jacob above him. Jacob did two things at once: he moved his pick across the string and sent the largest sonic blast he ever made at the ground beneath him, and he also brought down his right hand, still holding the axe, and brought it straight down on Oreios's head. The speed and weight the axe carried from the gravity of the fall caused the axe to cut cleanly through Oreios, and the sonic blast slowed down Jacob's fall so much that he didn't feel much as he crashed into the ground. Jacob slowly stood up and saw before him a statue of stone that was the exact likeness of Oreios, except for the line that divided him right down the middle. The statue crumbled to the ground. The axe began to vanish, but the green aura around it moved over Jacob's hand and seemed to sink into his skin until it was gone.

"Jacob?" Percy called over as the rest of the group came near him. Feeling the energy within him, Jacob decided to try and have a little fun. He crouched down as if to jump, but when he came up, so did a small pillar of earth beneath his feet, propelling him backwards towards the others. He landed flat on his feet and didn't feel a thing.

"Sweet," Nico said with raised eyebrows.

"I think it's time to move on." Matt called behind them; he flashed a smile at Jacob that made him smile back in pride.

The group started walking back to the Mountain Snake Motel. The bus had been taken by the police, but there weren't any cops around.

"What now?" Thalia said.

"We need to keep heading west, find Nereus, find Chrysaor, defeat bad guy, and save the planet." Steven listed off.

"Okay," Annabeth said, "How do we do the first of those things and head west?"

"We're going to have to steal a car." Jacob answered looking around for a vehicle that could take them all.

"Not a car," Matt said, this got everyone to look at him. He was staring at a house that was just past the Motel. "We're taking that RV." He pointed to a large white and brown RV parked beside the house.

"Won't that be a little noticeable?" Percy commented.

"Yeah, but if we get a good start, we might reach Nevada at least before the cops catch us." He started walking towards the RV, as did the others.

"I thought you were opposed to stealing?" Nico asked from the back.

"Well I'm finding that I have to change a lot of my morals for the sake of this quest, so, what the hell." Matt answered.

Annabeth's POV

We'd been driving west for a few hours now, we had to turn south to get around the mountains, and it was getting dark. Sadly that's when the cops caught up with us, and it was for the craziest reason.

"Why didn't you just go through the toll booth and throw in the change!" Percy yelled at Jacob who was driving like a maniac around traffic to get away from the nearing cop cars.

"I thought RVs had digital toll passes built in them so that you don't have to?" He responded while swerving around a station wagon with a frightened elderly couple in it.

"They would have deactivated it once the RV was stolen." Nico called, he was sitting on the couch with his head between his legs. He then ran, while tripping on multiple toys and dishes that fell from the overhead cabinets, to the bathroom to vomit.

"We need to get out of here!" Thalia called from the bed that was over the driver and passenger seats, she was looking through the overhead window. "I can see police cars ahead making a roadblock and laying spikes."

"Take the next exit!" I called looking for a sign. I saw one the next exit was before the roadblock, and it led to… "Oh gods,"

"What?" Percy said coming up next to me. The car then shook, and I instinctively grabbed on to him for support, and he wrapped his arms around me to keep me from falling. I looked up at him and we locked eyes. Gods how I loved his eyes, they seemed never ending. The thought passed through my head as to what he sees when looking at my eyes, I'd have to ask him sometime, but the only thing I managed to say was, "Las Vegas."

"What?" Percy said with a look of surprise and confusion, he looked up and saw the exit sign too, and then a look of comprehension passed over his face. The look made me giggle in a very girlish way that made him look at me with a small grin.

"Hang on!" Jacob made a sharp turn to get to the exit, he turned a bit late and ended up driving through some grass and gravel which made the car shake roughly. I heard Nico moan from the bathroom before he puked again.

"Hope you aren't getting coated in puke in their!" Thalia called from her post. Nico stepped out of the bathroom and gave her an awkward and embarrassed look before sitting down again.

Jacob's driving took us into the main part of Vegas with the police following close behind.

Matt had him park behind some construction area. We all got out of the RV quickly and ran for the Las Vegas Strip. We lost the cops amongst the tourists and the flashing neon lights. We had to stay in the back alleys so as not to attract attention with our weapons. We took a minute to pack everything away as well as we could, but Matt, Jacob, and Steven still had to hold onto their things.

We began moving along the alleys looking for a different car to snag and get away with. We eventually found and abandoned lot, and we found a truck that could hold the seven of us. As Thalia, Nico, and the brothers were checking it to be sure it would run, I took Percy over to a fountain to send an Iris message. Percy moved the water to make a mist and I had him move it to capture the last few rays of sunlight. It would be night in New York, but I still had to try.

Finally getting a rainbow to appear, I got a link to Camp Half-Blood. Chiron's face appeared.

"It's been awhile," He began with a relieved face, "I was beginning to worry. Is everyone alright?"

"We're all fine," I answered. "We've faced a lot of problems, including three old gods: Erebus, Pontus, and Oreios."

"I'm aware. You all have been appearing on the television a lot. The reporters aren't sure if you all are terrorists or just a bunch of pranksters. They seem to be leaning towards the former since the President was going to be at that musical gathering in Wisconsin."

"I think this is the fourth nation-wide manhunt we've been the cause of."

"It is starting to become a bad habit. This news about the elementals is also disturbing, if the ancient ones are stirring that means that a very old and very powerful being is behind this."

"How're things at Camp?"

"Not that much better. Monsters are attacking more frequently; some have even been able to get through the barrier by coming through the river and the forest."

"WHAT! How can monsters be getting in?"

"As I said, a very powerful force is controlling the strings here, and I have a feeling that we are all being manipulated in some way, but I cannot tell how."

"We're in Vegas now; we're going to head to San Francisco to get Nereus to tell us where Chrysaor is."

"That might work, but remember, Nereus is tricky and will try to manipulate the facts to fool you. He might also show some hostility since Pontus is his father and you saw you defeated him…I seem to be losing contact…is something wrong?"

"It's sunset here, we'll have to message you later. Take care!" I called into the message as it flickered out.

"Well it sounds like they are having fun at Camp." Percy said sarcastically.

"They'll be fine. Since the war, the Camp has been fortifying its defenses." I tried to make him feel better, but I was worried myself. Worried for Grover, Juniper, and all our friends. Percy was probably thinking the same.

"Hey!" Thalia called, "Come on!"

We walked over to the car which they had gotten to start. We were getting ready to get in.

"Hey! What are you doing?" A voice called from behind us. We all turned. I felt like the Fates were really trying to screw with us with all the bad luck. Coming towards us was a group of about twenty thugs, all armed with chains, metal pipes, knives, and I saw some of them even holding guns.

"Run?" Nico said quietly with fear in his voice. We were all good fighters but our weapons weren't good against normal humans and their number and size compared to ours was telling that we would not win.

"Run." I agreed.

We bolted from the group and ran through the back alleys as fast as we could. The thugs decided that we were interesting enough that they decided to follow us, and they were pretty fast runners too.

"IN HERE!" Matt called; he was standing at a backdoor to some casino.

None of us wanting to take our chances with the gangsters, we all went through the door after Steven unlocked it by placing his hammer against the handle.

"We're all in." Thalia whispered. We appeared to be in a maintenance closet. We got out and stepped into a large lobby. Noises were coming from all the halls, noises of cheers from large crowds. We decided to see what the noise was. As we got closer, went through a door and found ourselves in a giant crowd of people, some dressed formally and others casually. The people were all ages, preteens to middle aged, and they all had a joyful look as they seemed to be cheering for something. I could see a huge casino to my left through huge glass walls. The walls in the lobby had well stocked bars and some arcade games as well as doors with signs saying DANCE HALL and WATER PARK.

A waitress walked over to us with a tray filled with longneck glasses with pink bubbly fluid in them.

"Would you like a glass before the countdown?" The waitress asked politely. She didn't seem disturbed by our dirty clothes or the weapons we were carrying.

Matt grabbed a glass and thanked the woman, and he motioned for all of us to take a glass too. After we each had one, the waitress left to get more.

"Why did we just take these?" Percy asked.

"We need to blend in," Matt said, "then we can get out of here."

A giant projection screen lowered from a wall and an image of a man appeared, he was dressed in a blank and white tuxedo and was holding a glass of the same liquid.

"Welcome everybody," He said, I couldn't see him but I could tell that he was somewhere in the lobby by one of the walls. "We are 15 seconds away from celebrating the 70th anniversary here in Las Vegas! Isn't it great!"

Everyone began cheering and raising their glasses. I suddenly had the feeling that something was wrong; something he said wasn't right. "70th anniversary in Las Vegas? That can't be…" I lost my train of thought as the countdown appeared, counting down from 10…9…8…

"Let's move." Nico whispered to everyone. 7…6…5…

"Let's have the drink first." Thalia said, it looked as if she already took a sip. 4…3…2…

"Something's wrong…" I whispered before raising the glass to my lips, the liquid smelled fruit and somehow familiar.

1! Everyone cheered and confetti fell from the ceiling as everyone laughed and drank their glass.

We all drank from ours, it tasted good. It was sweet with a fruity flavoring, but also a little bit of spice. I could feel the carbonation in my throat. I started to giggle suddenly, I didn't know why, but I didn't really care, it was fun. I felt like laughing could make me forget all my problems. I looked at the others and they all had strange smiles on their face; Percy's was the cutest of course. He was so cute sometimes, and he could be really hot when he wanted to. I was about to grab him when the man appeared on the screen again, I didn't really pay attention as I dragged Percy towards the DANCE ROOM, just because it sounded fun, and I wanted to have fun. The others followed, laughing for no reason at each other.

"Happy Anniversary everybody! We hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here at the Lotus Hotel and Casino where you will never want to leave!"


	18. Lotus Casino

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other references made or thought made.

* * *

Percy POV

That drink was delicious; it was fruity but had that slight kick that told it had alcohol in it. Wonder if mom will be mad that I drank alcohol underage? Oh well, I don't really care. Annabeth is dragging me towards the DANCE ROOM, and I was happy to go anywhere with her. I'd never seen Annabeth dance before, we'd slow danced that time we found Nico and Bianca, but never fast paced dancing. I was sure that she'd dance awkwardly, my Wise Girl, so in love with books, probably had never actually danced in a club before.

We walked into the Dance Room and it was crazy. The only light came from the hundreds of different colored neon lights scattered everywhere, hanging globes, colored rods along the walls and the floor itself had colored lights going off like you'd see in a disco movie. TV screens hung everywhere showing the music videos of whatever was playing or the people dancing. Along the back of the room was a bar that was filled with people talking and ordering drinks. In the front of the room was the DJ station, huge machines were all over the stage blasting the music and the bass with strobe lights going off. The DJ was a teenager with neon blue hair and wearing huge headphones while he worked the music. Hanging above the DJ was a sign saying karaoke would be starting soon.

"I'm singing!" Nico bolted for the sign-up that was on the stage near the DJ.

The rest of us looked at each other, each of us smiling or laughing for no reason other than it felt good to. We all shrugged and joined in and signed the sheet, some of us signed up together to sing. Nico and I were first so we got called up to the stage as they prepared the stage with microphones. I saw Annabeth standing near the edge of the stage with the three brothers; Thalia was headed towards the bar. Maybe we should talk to her later about the problems with alcohol. I laughed at how much I sounded like my mother.

Nico and I were signaled to go up on the stage. I wasn't nervous at all, which was weird since I remember always shaking like a leaf when doing anything in front of a crowd of people. But right now I was so relaxed. The music started, Pitbull and T-Pain's "Hey Baby". I sang as Pitbull and Nico sang T-Pain. We were having so much fun; we were even trying to imitate their voices. I don't think we were doing bad since everyone was cheering for us. As I sang Pitbull's first verse, I stepped forward and saw Annabeth dancing. She was dancing like she was any random teen in a club, and it made me really want to go down and dance with her. I looked at Nico when he started singing; he seemed focused on someone too. I followed his view and saw him locking eyes with Thalia who was at the bar watching us. Nico and Thalia? Well if that's what they want… I kept singing while watching Annabeth until the song was over. Everyone in the room cheered for us as we walked off. The brothers were walking up. Jacob high-fived me, Steven was laughing about how bad I was at the spanish parts, and Matt was singing the song to himself as he patted my back.

The brothers went up and started singing some Queen song, I think it was "Don't Stop Me Now" and everyone was dancing. Nico went towards the bar, but I went looking for Annabeth. I saw her dancing with some random guy dressed in clothes that matched the room, very disco. I was frozen out of anger that Annabeth would dance with another guy, but more with jealousy that she appeared to be enjoying dancing with that complete stranger. I walked over to them trying to calm myself. I walked up to them and gave the guy a sincere look while Annabeth looked embarrassed.

"Excuse me," I said with a fake smile, "I was wondering if I could dance with my girl." I ended by giving him an angry look like 'I'll beat the crap out of you if you don't step away.'

The guy raised his hands, "I'm sorry man, and I didn't know this was your girl. So sorry." He looked legit with his apology, so I smiled back saying it was fine before he walked away.

"I'm whose girl now?" I turned to find Annabeth giving me a look between anger and pride.

I responded by pulling her close and dancing with her to the music. She responded instantly as a sign of showing she understood. We danced together through the next three songs. The brothers had gone towards the bar, leaving me and Annabeth alone. We silently moved our bodies to the rhythm of the music and each other. I couldn't help but think that this was almost like when we fought monsters together, our minds seemed to link and we each could feel the other's movements.

As the song was nearing its end, Annabeth turned to me, "I'm singing next, wait here for me." She ran for the stage. I was upset that she left, but I was excited that she wanted me to wait here, and so I did.

Nico POV

I had come to the bar after singing with Percy. Throughout the song I kept looking over at Thalia and I couldn't figure out why. I was sitting here drinking another one of those champagne drinks; I hadn't even realized that I'd been drinking them for a while, as well as everyone else in the room. They grabbed the drink, drank it, and then put it back in a matter of seconds and didn't even acknowledge that they did something.

"Whoa…" Jacob said next to me.

"What?" Thalia and I responded at the same time.

"You see how that girl is dancing?" His gaze was focused on a girl who was dressed like an exotic dancer, but had the grace of a professional dancer. She was dancing in a seductive way that had all the guys trying to move closer to dance with her, but she quickly wore them out with her moves and they stumbled away.

"What about her?" I asked.

"I'm gonna go show her up." Jacob ran off towards the girl.

"I'm going to go look around," Matt said after taking another drink of the pink juice, "I want to go check out the arcade." He walked away after passing a glance at Jacob who was now dancing with the girl, who now had a surprised look that someone was matching her dance moves.

"Did Matt have something to do with Jacob looking at that girl?" I asked the last brother near us, I remember how Matt can affect people's emotions.

"No, we found out that he can't affect us." Steven answered after taking a shot of some clear liquid.

"Hold on here," Thalia turned back from looking at Percy and Annabeth dancing, "Matt had that girl in Arizona, and Jacob goes after tons of girls, but you Steven..." she pointed at the tallest brother, "I have yet to even hear you make a comment about someone you're attracted to. Why is that?"

"Well it's very simple," He answered calmly, not at all disturbed by Thalia's very intrusive question, "I never had someone that I truly cared for." His face became sullen.

I nudged Thalia and gave her a look to tell her to apologize. She started, "Um…There's never been any girl that you had a crush on or thought was cute?"

"Well there was one person." He started smiling and even chuckled.

"Really, tell us about her." Thalia gave him a nudge to try and make up for making him sad.

He tried covering his laughter, "Well, I met them after we got separated. We were both in the travelling theater act. And we shared a few glances, but we never really had any relationship."

"What was her name?" I asked.

He took another shot of what I saw was sambuca, "Charlie." He gave us a very serious look, all laughter gone now.

Thalia and I were frozen for a second; neither of us had expected him to be gay. "Well…" Thalia said, clearly not having any idea what to say, "Maybe you'll find him again someday."

"Yeah and the Cleveland Browns are gonna win the Superbowl next year." He turned to walk away towards the billiards section.

Thalia and I both laughed at the joke. Then we caught each other's gaze and we just stared at each other. I could feel a connection between us, but it was weird. We both had someone back at Camp, but before that happened I had always thought that there could have been something between me and her.

She broke eye contact and turned to look at Annabeth singing, but her jaw dropped as soon as she saw them. I turned to look for them, and I got the same reaction when I saw them. Annabeth had come off the stage and was now grinding against Percy while singing a Brittney Spears song. And they both seemed to be enjoying themselves.

"I think that may seal the deal between the two." I said. Me and Thalia looked at each other and high fived.

"I can't believe she chose to sing one of Spears' songs." Thalia said with a look that showed her distaste for the singer.

"The song's tempo seems about right for their dancing." I replied.

"Is that even considered dancing? They are about four layers of clothes away from having sex..." Thalia said.

I turned to reply but she seemed lost in thought, and I think she was even blushing a little. Before I could say anything she stood up and moved to walk away.

"I'll see you later," She said while she rubbed her head. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom." She walked away, followed by some waitresses who tried to help her by offering h'orderves on platters.

I wanted to follow her, but I was too nervous. I still wasn't sure how I felt about her. A waitress walked up and offered me another glass of the pink liquid or some flower shaped sweets. I took a flower since I didn't feel like drinking more of that stuff. Before eating it I looked through the crowd again. I saw Percy and Annabeth still grinding as some new girl was singing Lady Gaga, and Jacob was dancing an even more seductive dance with the girl from earlier. If they weren't wearing clothes I think some exotic film director would be filming them for some…what in the name of Zeus is Jacob doing to that girl. I tilted my head to try and understand the dance move Jacob was pulling off with that girl, that very limber girl.

'_Nico…'_

I turned to find who said my name, but I found no one. A chill ran down my spine, the same sensation that I feel when a spirit or ghost is too close. I started looking around the crowd to try and find a sign for something out of place.

She was easy enough to find with all the neon being refracted through her astral figure. She vanished before I could make out the face, but the voice had definitely been feminine. I followed my senses to where the spirit was moving, and it led me out of the Dance Room and into the Arcade. As I was running between slot machines and pinball machines the spirit stopped. I couldn't see her, but I could still feel her presence, it was familiar.

"B-Bianca?" I looked around frantically to see if it was in fact my sister's spirit that had come.

'_Yes, Nico…'_

I turned to see her take shape. She was as lovely as ever, she was still wearing her Hunter's uniform and she still radiated an aura of strength. She was smiling at me.

"Why are you here?" I asked her.

'_Don't you see?...' _Her lips moved, but the sound seemed to appear in my head as if I was thinking the words myself.

"See what?" I asked, I looked around but there was nothing out of place.

'_Don't you remember this place?' _Her eyes almost looked pleading. She wanted me to see something, but I couldn't figure it out.

"Remember what? I don't understand." I could sense her fear for me, but I couldn't figure out why.

'_Your hand…look at what you hold.'_ I looked and found that I was still holding the little sweet that the waitress had served. _'Don't you recognize it?'_ Recognize it? It was a flower shaped candy! It was a simple, pink little…

"Lotus!" I dropped the candy and screamed the word, gaining me some confused stares from the people playing games and nervous looks from the servers walking around. I turned to ask Bianca a question but she vanished. "We're back in the Lotus Casino. I have to get the others." I ran for the Dance Room.

"Can we help you?" Three big guys in green and white servers' suits stepped in my way. I knew they were to stop me and try and get me to eat the lotus and be drugged again.

"No thank you," I put on a pleasant smile, these guys knew I was no longer under the lotus's effect and that I was trying to get away.

"I think you should come with us sir." They stepped forward; I knew they were going to grab me. I thought of pulling my sword, and even though my sword could affect humans, I felt stealing their souls might be much. And I couldn't summon the dead in such a populated area.

"Come with us now." I could hear the guy getting a bit aggressive in his tone of voice.

"I don't take orders from anyone." I unhooked my scabbard from my belt and held my sheathed sword in a fighting stance. The people around us didn't even notice. That's Vegas for you. But the guards backed up a little before pulling out night sticks.

"Let's not do this sir, just come with us and we can settle this. Don't you want to enjoy your stay here at the Casino?" He put on a smile to try and convince me to go with him.

I gave him my own evil grin, "No, let's!" Then I charged at them.

Steven POV

Where the heck did these guys come from?

I was standing on top of the billiard table using one of the sticks like a golf club to swing at the guys trying to grab me.

"We need you and your friends to come with us!" A guy said as he tried to grab my leg. I swung at his arm and heard a sickening crack which was probably his wrist.

"What do you want with us?" I spun and clonked a guy in the head who had tried to get on the table.

"Why do they all have to fight?" I heard the broken-wrist guy say to himself.

"Huh? 'All'?" I guess these clowns had tried grabbing some of the others and they had fought back, and now they were trying to grab all of us.

"Come here!" Another guy dove for my legs, but I jumped out of his reached and came back down and landed with both feet on both of his hands. "AHHH!"

"No thanks!" I jumped off the table and used the stick to knock the few remaining guards down. I thought about using my sledge hammer, but I didn't want to kill these guys. They were just casino guards trying to do their jobs and protect.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind as someone wrapped their arms around my own. "Gotcha!"

"Nope." I bucked my head straight back into his, disorienting him. I moved my right leg in and behind his and bent his knee slightly. Then I pushed back with my left leg and took us both to the ground with the guard landing flat on his back and me pushing him down harder. His grip loosened and I pushed myself up to grab a guard's fist that was trying to hit my face. I spun and pulled his arm over my shoulder as I crouched down. Then I pulled down on his arm while raising my back, making him flip over me and land on the floored guard's stomach, knocking the wind out of him again.

I turned back to see a few more guards arrive. "I have to find the others and get out of here." Some guards pulled out night sticks while the bigger guys brought up fists, luckily none of them were carrying guns. I took a deep breath and thought back to the martial arts training I'd had. I slowly moved myself into a proper fighting stance with open palms in front of me with the thumbs out to grab. Matt had insisted that we all learn aikido so that we could defend against mortals without harming them majorly.

"Come and get some." I said in a calm voice as I remained focused on watching their moves so as to properly counterattack. With my word said, they charged.

Matt POV

Where in the name of Olympus was I? I was on the run through the arcade and casino area with guards following me. I'd already incapacitated a few with some simple martial arts, but if they started using weapons instead of just trying to grab me, I was going to be forced to get more violent.

"What did I do wrong?" I'd been simply sitting at the Do You Know Your Love's Loves? game. I was even hosting the game. Couples came up and tested their knowledge of each other with simple questions, and suddenly a bunch of guards asked to speak with me. They said a girl that I had been seen with was causing trouble and they needed me to go with them. It was then that I saw the pin on the guard's shirt that made me aware of where I was.

"So the lotus eaters went from a deserted island to a casino in Vegas? Quite a leap. They must have gotten a lot of money to fund this." A guard then jumped out from behind a videogame and grabbed my shoulder. I grabbed his hand and lifted it up and reached back to grab his elbow with my other hand and put him under a wristlock while applying pressure to his elbow's nerve centers. He started crying in pain.

"Why are you following me?" I demanded, I hoped he answered because I didn't want to hurt him more than I was.

"We were told to grab you and the other demigods because of the girl." So they knew we were demigods.

"What girl?"

"The black haired girl destroying the casino's lotus producers." He was shaking from the pain.

"Thalia?" She must have realized where we were and decided to try and take out the lotus eaters' trap. "Where is the lotus produced?"

He remained silent. I didn't want to but I twisted his wrist more, to where it was almost pulling the bones apart.

"AH! The basement! The machines are in the basement!" He cried. I let go of his hand and took his ID and security keys and ran to find a staircase to the basement.

"Machines?" Of course…the drinks and the flower sweets. They must be crushing the lotus flowers down and making them into edibles to make it easier to get people to fall under their influence.

BOOM! The casino shuddered as an explosion could be heard. No one responded to the explosion, but I ran like mad to find Thalia before she killed everyone.

Jacob POV

This girl is amazing.

Luna was dancing in a way that I'd never seen before, but the moment I saw her dancing I knew the moves. Being a child of the god of music also makes me a great dancer as well as musician. She was dressed in loose clothing that let her move freely but still showed off enough skin to let her body's curves be seen in full detail, and she was not being bashful about it.

Her dance moves reminded me of gypsy dancing with a very strong erotic theme. And I was matching her every step with my own dances complimenting her moves. Everyone around us staring at us with shocked faces, some even looked like they wanted to join in.

We never said a word to each other after she told me her name was Luna when I started dancing with her and showed that I could keep up. We let our bodies speak for us. Our bodies swinging and moving against each other in our dance spoke more to each other than words would.

We danced in this way for a while, but then it started getting strange. I felt the room shake for a moment, but no one seemed to notice and that made me realize that guys dressed like security where circling around me and Luna.

_What's going on here?_ I thought. I looked around for the others, but I didn't see Matt, Steve, Percy, or any of the others.

The security guards looked like they were ready to try and take me down, but I didn't know why.

I looked at Luna, who didn't notice them, and it occurred to me that if they try to take me they might hurt her, and I would not stand for that.

They started to move towards us, but I was already on the offensive. I didn't need to be playing the music to control it. Using my dancing as a conduit to release the energy from my body, the air around Luna and I began to glow as if the neon lights were floating around us. The music in the air was becoming a physical force and showing itself as colored light. As I danced, the light moved as well and began spinning around us in a small funnel shape.

The guards didn't see the lights and so they moved to grab us, but then I changed my dancing style. I began leading the dance instead of our mutual control in the moves. Luna didn't mind as she just smiled and continued dancing in pace with me. The lights also changed movements, they began moving like small and solid spheres. They knocked over the guards by hitting their legs, they tripped them by pushing up on their feet, and flipped them by pushing one way on their head and the opposite way on their legs. Altogether, it looked like a weird comedy show of idiots tripping on marbles or ice or something.

The crowd was laughing as the colored spheres knocked down anyone who got too close to us. But me and Luna were enjoying ourselves while dancing, I was controlling the spheres by instinct but all my real focus was on her.

"JACOB!" I recognized Steven's voice. I didn't want to leave Luna, but I knew something was happening and we had to go.

She seemed to realize this to, but she stopped us from dancing and looked in my eyes. "You better go Jacob." Her voice was soft and almost said with a melody. I was about to turn to run for the others when she pulled me back and pushed her lips against mine. It took me a few seconds to comprehend this, but quickly I regained my exposure and starting kissing her back. I didn't even know this girl and yet we were kissing, and it was a serious kiss.

"JACOB!" I was forced to pull away from Luna who stayed where she was with an impish little smile.

"Come on we need to get these people out of here!" I didn't realize that I was being dragged away by Steven and Nico.

"What? Why?" I aksed.

"Because Thalia is going to blow up the casino and Matt can't stop her!" Steven let me go and all began running.

"WHAT! Where is Matt?" I screamed.

"Looking for Percy and Annabeth." Nico answered.

"I got an idea." Steven ran and pulled the fire alarm. This set off the sprinklers in the room and set off an alarm. Everyone froze for a moment at the sudden change, but then they started dancing again without paying attention.

"What is wrong with these people?" Nico said.

"Look out!" I yelled, I quickly moved around Steve and Nico and swung my leg to trip to guards that were coming up behind us.

"Maybe this will get them moving." Steven took his sledge hammer and placed the head against the floor. As the hammer began glowing orange the building began shaking. The people became much more focused on the situation now. When things started falling off of the walls they started running for the exits. The workers tried to calm them down and get them to stay, but when more explosions were heard from the basement the workers ran for their lives.

"Now let's get out of here!" I yelled. Steven had moved away his hammer, but the building was still shaking, meaning that it was doing it on its own. "Before this whole casino falls in on us!"


	19. All Out Of Luck

I do not own Percy Jackson or any other references made or thought made.

* * *

Matthew POV

_By the gods! That goth has to be the most stubborn girl I have ever met…crazy pyro. _After my failed attempt to drag Thalia out of the basements, which she had already destroyed beyond repair, I decided to do the only other thing I could do…evacuate everyone. That daughter of Zeus was planning on taking down this entire Casino without considering all the lives that are in it.

"I hope Steven and Nico found Jacob." Just as I said it, the sprinkler system and fire alarms went off. "What in the world?" Then the floor started to shake, but these weren't being caused by Thalia's pyrotechnics in the basement, these tremors had to be caused from Steven. The shakes increased in strength, causing the mortals in the Casino to start screaming and running for the exits.

"Well at least there getting out," I said to myself as I ran for the Dance Room. I had to find Percy and Annabeth before this whole structure collapsed.

Unfortunately, to get to the Dance Room, I was forced to run against the horrified mob of casino patrons, who were racing to get out. As I got closer I saw most of the neon lamps and strobes still going, and the music was still playing even as water from the sprinklers rained down on the DJ-less DJ station. Even while being hit by the stampede of evacuators, I had been able to see the lone pair of dancers still on the dance floor, rocking their bodies together in harmony with the music.

I finally got through the major group of fleeing people and was running for the two dancers when the Employee Only door to my left burst open, revealing a drenched goth choking on the smoke coming up from the basement.

"Thalia!" I ran to pull her out of the smoke trap and slammed the door behind her as I heard the sound of metal grinding on metal in the worst ways and felt the heat of a raging fire. I looked at the recovering girl with a look of anger and worry. "What have you done?"

Thalia stood up shakily before answering me, "We have about three minutes."

"Three minutes before what?" I said, dreading the answer.

"Before the Lotus Casino crashes to the ground." She said with some pride.

"There are still innocent people in here!" I screamed at her, the water from the sprinklers and the alarms were not helping the situation. "Help me get Percy and Annabeth."

"Where are they?" I pointed to the dance floor, wanting to keep yelling at this thunder-headed delinquent, but when I saw the two dancers I couldn't help but smile. I could hear Thalia chuckle before she ran to get them.

Annabeth POV

_PERCY'S KISSING ME! _My mind was racing, thinking thoughts faster that I could even recognize what they were. Percy and I had been dancing, there had been strange noises, the sprinklers had gone off, the room shook, everyone else ran away, but we just kept dancing…dancing until…had Percy's lips always been so soft?

My eyes were closed as Percy held me closer to his chest, if he was looking at my face, I'm sure he could see my burning red cheeks. Sure we had kissed before, but not like this…not for this long…not this deeply. I'm not exactly sure when my hand had reached up and started to play with Percy's still dry hair, which felt incredibly smooth. I could feel his hands massage my back as he tilted his head and leaned in more to kiss me harder, and guessing by the strange little moaning sounds I was apparently making, I think he realized that I was enjoying it…a lot.

He was still holding me tightly when I pulled away…stupid human need for oxygen. As I tried to catch my breath, and slow down my heart rate and thought process, I opened my eyes to see him looking right into mine. It was as if he could see right through me, I could feel my cheeks burning red even with the sprinklers cooling water pouring on us. He smiled at me and leaned in for another quick kiss on my lips before leaning in close to my ears. "You okay Wise Girl?"

Those were the first words he'd said to me since I got back from singing, and all I could do was simply nod, still shocked that he had just kissed me like that. "There's something I want to tell you."

I pulled back to look him in the face, the water was blurring my vision. Noticing my blinking water out of my eyes, Percy must have stretched out his power because I was instantly dry, even my clothes. "Y-yeah?" _Is that all you can stammer out? He kisses you and all you can do is mumble?_ My conscious didn't seem to like how I was handling myself.

"Annabeth…" He leaned in closer. "I lo…"

"PERCY! ANNABETH!" Thalia screamed as she grabbed us and pulled us out of the way of a falling piece of the ceiling.

"What?" I finally noticed that the entire Casino was falling apart. Percy was still holding me close protectively, and I leaned in to him out of pure instinct.

"MOVE IT!" Matthew was suddenly there and he and Thalia were leading me and Percy out of the inferno surrounding us.

"Sorry to interrupt! But we need to get out of here!" Thalia yelled as we ran through what remained of the lobby. The walls were crumbling, the ceiling was falling down on us, and the sprinklers weren't having any effect on the fires that seemed to be rising from the cracks in the floor.

"What's going on?" Percy yelled up to Thalia and Matt.

"Thalia blew up the Casino!" Matt yelled, glaring at Thalia.

We finally burst out of the front doors, and kept running until we were across the road and a safe distance from the building. I turned to see just what had happened, and that's when I noticed the title of the Casino over the front door.

"This is the Lotus Casino!?" How had I not noticed?_ Probably because you were too focused on kissing the boy of your dreams who is still holding you._ I looked at Percy who was still had his arm wrapped around me and holding me to him.

"You hadn't noticed?" Nico answered to my question as he, Jacob, and Steven ran up to us.

"They were a bit busy...with each other." Thalia said with a smirk, causing me and Percy to go a little red. Nico laughed, but I noticed Jacob and Steven look at Matt in confusion, as if to ask if it was true. Matt nodded to them without saying a word, but he had a small smile on his face, but this was quickly followed by a look of anger as he turned to Thalia.

"What in the hell were you thinking?" Matt yelled coming up and putting his face up to Thalia's. I remember feeling sorry for anyone who did such a thing to Thalia when we had been on the run together, but now, looking at Matt, I was feeling more afraid for Thalia.

Thalia, not giving up any ground and returning Matt's gaze with a glare of her own. "I was stopping those monsters from keeping thousands of people trapped in that place. I destroyed their trap."

"Yes you did, and in the process you almost killed those thousands of innocent people. If Steven hadn't acted, most of those people would still be in that building." He pointed at the Casino, which had gotten worse in the past minute. The fires seemed to rising to the higher floors. I wondered why there were no fire trucks or police here yet; in fact, there were no people around at all. Then I finally noticed it, there was nothing around us. All around us, were there should have buildings and the rest of Vegas, there was nothing, it was as if a black veil were surrounding us. This black wall seemed to be surrounding only us and the burning Casino.

Nico walked up to me and Percy after seeing my confused look. "Steven did it. Using the power of darkness that he got from Erebos, he made a wall of shadows to hide the fire from the rest of the world. It also contains the flames so it doesn't spread." I looked at Steven, he was holding his sledgehammer, but, strangely, the head of the hammer was surrounded by a black mass with a dark aura glowing around it, which I guessed to be how he was controlling the wall of darkness.

Matt and Thalia continued arguing as the structure of what had been the Lotus Casino quickly fell to the ground and became a huge pile of scrap metal, broken glass, and burning plaster. The wall surrounding the building seemed to prevent the building from falling to the sides and kept it standing straight up, so that as it collapsed, it came straight down into the ground.

"Matthew." Jacob finally interrupted the argument, which had gotten close to them drawing their weapons on each other. "We need to get moving before one of the elementals figures out we're here."

Matthew finally calmed down and turned to Steven. "Lower the wall, I think it's safe." Steven did so, and the darkness that surrounded us vanished in an instant, letting in a wave of neon light and the sound of traffic and people. That noise quickly changed as people noticed the destroyed casino. As the people moved in closer to see the destruction, we all made our exit before the police arrived.

Matthew POV

We needed to keep moving. I led the group away from the destroyed casino as the crowds started forming to look at the rubble. I kept us away from the bigger crowds and led us through the back alleys.

"Where exactly are we going?" Thalia called from the back.

"Why? Wondering if you'll be able to blow it up as well?" I called back with plenty of angst in my voice. I was trying to calm down, but it was almost impossible after what she had done.

Thalia answered my question with silence, but I could sense her own anger building up as the smell of ozone built up in the air and it caused my eyes to burn a little.

I continued leading us through the alleys until I found what I had been looking for.

"A parking lot?" Nico said in confusion. The parking structure was about seven levels tall, and it seemed to be attached at random levels to the casino right beside it. The ground level had stone walls and had glass reaching from the top of the wall to the ceiling of the level.

"Expecting us to walk to San Francisco?" Jacob said before patting Nico's back.

There was one glass door, and Steven easily got it to unlock with his hammer. I opened the door to let the others through, but I could sense there was something wrong. I let Nico, Thalia (still glaring at me), Percy and Annabeth through, but I nodded at my brothers to signal them. As soon as the others were inside I quickly shut the door and let it lock before turning to see what had been following us.

I paid no attention to the others yelling at us through the glass door as I focused on the army of monsters that had spontaneously appeared and surrounded us. If not for the parking lot behind us, the monsters would have already surrounded us. Packs of hellhounds, armored dracanae, harpies, and various other monsters, some covered in fur or scales and others looking like hybrids of random animals and some even humanoid and they were all staring at me and my brothers.

"Where did they all come from?" Jacob uttered under his breath, he was holding his guitar in his normal battle stance. I pulled out my bible and changed it into my tonfa, and Steven was holding his hammer.

"I brought them." A voice answered back. It seemed to come from the sky and it sounded as if the words had been breathed out instead of actually spoken. As I looked for the speaker in the sky, I realized that the sky seemed to be moving. The night sky was too dark for this area, the lights of the Vegas strip should have blocked out all the stars, and yet there were more stars visible in the sky now than I had ever seen. And those stars were gathering at a single point, and the darkness of the sky began to fold and sway in the wind like cloth. And what I had first taken to be a cloud began to take the shape of a face, an elegant visage of a woman, clothed in a flowing dress made from the starry sky itself.

The lovely woman floated in the sky, above all the monsters that had yet to attack us. Her size looked to be just a bit larger than that of a normal human, and her skin was incredibly pale and her pitch black hair was flowing down her shoulders. She was smiling at us, and she looked behind us to look at the others inside the parking lot.

"So, you three are the ones causing all these difficulties?" she said in her airy voice.

I stood up straight and took a step forward, which got me a collective growl and snarl from the monsters around me who tensed up in preparation to attack. "I suppose we are. Hope we haven't been causing you too many problems."

"Oh, that and more little son of Eros. You have been making us all worry very much." The woman looked down and stared at me. Her eyes were as black as Erebos's had been, but instead of an iris and pupil, she had what looked to be a small glowing stars to serve as her eyes. "You have defeated three of our allies, one of whom was my husband, Erebos."

Though I had guessed who this elemental was, her last sentence only confirmed my guess. "I'm sorry to hear that star shine, I apologize for beating grandpa up so bad." I finished by smiling and doing a little bow. This got an aggressive response from this immaculate celestial figure.

"YOU SHALL SHOW RESPECT TO THE MAIDEN OF THE NIGHT!" As Nyx yelled at me, the stars that made up her dress began to turn into shooting stars that shot across her form at rapid speeds.

I decided to push a little more. "So which legend is true? Is Aphrodite the mother of Eros, or are you? Are you my gramma?" I said the last sentence with a child's voice. Nyx didn't seem amused, the stars on her dress spun faster around her.

Steven chuckled, "You might want to calm down or some of those stars will go supernova. They might burn holes in your dress." Jacob started laughing too while I smirked.

"KILL THEM!" Nyx cried at the army beneath her feet, and the monsters didn't need any motivation. They came at us at full speed, but I already had a plan.

"Steven, some cover please." I said with a smile. Me and Jacob got closer to Steven as he held his hammer up in the air, the head turning dark as it had at the casino.

"Hope you all aren't afraid of the dark." Steven said before the shadows surrounding the hammer expanded rapidly like a giant balloon, covering us and the monsters in a darkness that seemed to never end.

Nico POV

Steven had just raised his hammer into the air when a giant cloud of pure black surrounded them and then expanded to engulf the entire horde of monsters and even Nyx herself. The darkness wasn't reaching through the glass windows, but we weren't able to see anything beyond the glass.

There was a still that seemed to follow this spreading of shadows. There was no sound, not even from any of us inside the parking lot as we looked out of the glass trying to see the brothers. I was even getting a bit scared. I should have been able to sense them, their spirits at least, and the spirits of the monsters, which I had just moments ago, but now there was nothing. There was just blackness, but then it started.

I was as if fireworks were going off all over the place. Random flashes of yellow light were going off everywhere, and in those short moments of light I could see what looked like puffs of smoke or dust. It took me a few seconds before I realized what was going on. Though the flashes of light appeared to be happening in random places, they were centralized around three moving points.

"How can they do this?" I said in pure disbelief. The three brothers, without any apparent ability to see through this darkness, were destroying the army at a blinding speed. The flashes of yellow light were the monsters disintegrating upon death and the dust was the remains of the monsters.

CRASH! We all backed away from the glass as a spear broke through the glass and impaled the windshield of a random car. Then arrows began embedding themselves in the glass in random places.

"The monsters are trying to fight back." Percy said. Only moments later a howl was heard and a hellhound came crashing through a window to our left. I drew my sword to attack it, but the thing got up and growled before jumping back out the window, paying no attention to us.

The flashes of light began to pick up speed, nearly blinding me with their light against the dark shadows. I don't remember how long it all lasted; I was too focused on the sounds I could hear now. The howls and screeching of the monsters that were followed by cries of pain and screams of horror. I could hear some monsters trying to gather their forces and find the brothers, but the voices were suddenly silenced almost as soon as they started talking.

At some point, it all stopped. The cries of the monsters stopped, the flashes of light stopped, and the silence returned. I was frozen again, as if the silence had physically grabbed me and forced me to remain still and unmoving. After who knows how long, the shadows began to recede. Like the water on a beach, the darkness moved away from us in a fluid motion. As the darkness was pulled back like a shroud, we could see the ground was completely covered in the yellow powder. It was almost like watching a desert being formed right in front of my eyes. The shadows formed a sphere right in front of us, and it continued getting smaller. Then we saw them. As the shadows disappeared into the head of Steve's hammer, we saw them standing in a triangle formation around the last figure besides them. Matt, Jacob, and Steven didn't have a single scratch on them. Not a single hair out of place or smudge on their clothes. The same could not be said about Nyx. Her starry sky dress was torn to shreds, but still remained on her body. The stars were flickering, some even going dark. Her pale colored body was covered in cuts and gashes, and out of each wound she bled what looked like glowing liquid silver. Her gaze was to the sky, but I don't think she was really looking at anything.

"Tell Erebos," Matt said, not looking at Nyx, but at the ground as if not recognizing that she was even there. "That we say hi." With that, Nyx's form dissolved into a black mist filled with stars. And the mist rose into the sky and the stars dispersed over the night sky.


End file.
